Could prohibitionist lawmakers be attempting to thwart cannabis advocacy by curbing democracy? It wouldn’t be the first time.
At Talking Joints Memo, we take a lot of pride in our prioritizing Massachusetts cannabis and all that encompasses. There’s a whole lot happening in the Bay State industry and culture, and our crew strives to cover as much as possible—from products, to events, to hard news.
At the same time, we go thousands of miles out of our way every week to identify and syndicate the best canna coverage from across the country. That’s everything from deep investigations by the Texas Tribune to psychedelics coverage and analysis by international researchers.
Today, in perusing marijuana journalism from around the US, we noticed something ugly. Suddenly, there’s similar news out of three states—Idaho, Utah, and Florida—regarding incoming assaults on cannabis legalization and democracy. Check out the coverage below …
Idaho Senate signs off on proposed anti-marijuana constitutional amendment (Idaho Capital Sun)
Idaho voters will be asked to decide if only the Idaho Legislature could legalize cannabis, other drugs
Utah lawmakers move to set higher bar for ballot initiatives — but voters will have a say in 2026 (Utah News Dispatch)
The 2025 Utah Legislature passed two bills impacting ballot initiatives, one to heighten publication requirements and one to ask voters in 2026 to set higher ballot approval thresholds
Committee would ban use of state funds to advocate on ballot measures (Florida Phoenix)
Gov. DeSantis did just that last year against abortion, pot measures
To be continued, etc., but we thought you ought to know about this …
