Second Michigan recreational marijuana campaign gets OK

A second – and now competing – campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan has gotten the go-ahead from state officials to begin collecting signatures in a bid to make the 2018 ballot.

The campaign, Abrogate Prohibition Michigan, was approved Thursday by the state board of canvassers to move ahead with its goal of 315,654 signatures, the Detroit Free Press reported.

An existing campaign, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, has already collected more than 100,000 of the 252,523 signatures it needs to make the 2018 ballot. The coalition is supported by the Marijuana Policy Project.

The Abrogate Prohibition Michigan campaign’s threshold is higher because it’s attempting to amend the state constitution; the other would only change state statutes.

The primary backer of Abrogate Prohibition Michigan told the newspaper the campaign won’t have paid signature gatherers but would be a grassroots movement. The campaign expects to begin circulating petitions in about a week.