Idaho lawmakers shoot down anti-marijuana legalization measure

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Idahoans received a vote of confidence that marijuana legalization might one day occur after the death in the state House of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have prevented legalizing MJ without the approval of two-thirds of the Legislature.

The Associated Press reported that the amendment, which had already passed in the Senate, failed on a 42-28 vote. The measure needed 47 votes to move forward.

Democratic members of the House uniformly opposed the amendment, and even some staunchly conservative members of the Republican-led House joined with them to stop the measure.

Idaho remains one of only three states in the U.S. without some form of legalized marijuana, but pro-legalization activists have been gaining support in their bid to add an initiative to the ballot in 2022.

The effort to preempt cannabis legalization in Idaho was another example of new ploys that anti-marijuana advocates are using to try to stop the domino effect of state-by-state legalization across the U.S.