Idaho

Lawmakers in Idaho — one of the country’s last remaining holdouts on medical cannabis reforms — may consider a medical cannabis legalization proposal as the year’s legislative session winds down.

Activists in Idaho have launched a new campaign to put a medical cannabis legalization question on the state’s 2024 ballot.

A recent poll in Idaho found that 68% of voters believe medical cannabis should be legalized in the state.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture will be banning hemp and hemp-derived products in pet food, animal feed, and supplements starting November 1. 

Mattie Mead is co-founder & CEO of Hempitecture, a Public Benefit Corporation and sustainable hemp building materials company based in Idaho.

Idaho has started to issue hemp licenses and, as the last state in the U.S. to legalize hemp, its producers are looking at the crop as a major economic opportunity.

An Idaho bill proposes legalizing nabiximols, a cannabis-derived pain relief spray for patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. Cannabis remains otherwise prohibited in the state.

Idaho is now accepting applications for its hemp program after receiving federal approval on November 1. The program will exclude people convicted of a felony drug violation in any state or federal court in the last 10 years.

Medical cannabis advocates with Kind Idaho are collecting signatures to put the Idaho Medical Marijuana Act on state ballots for the 2022 election.

Idaho officials are preparing to submit a plan to regulate hemp to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by September 1.

Lawmakers in the Idaho Senate fast-tracked a bill last week to ban cannabis advertising in the state in response to roadside cannabis ads near the Oregon border.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) signed the state’s industrial hemp legalization bill last week. Idaho was the last holdout state for hemp prohibition after the 2018 enactment of federal hemp reforms.

The Idaho Senate approved a measure to constitutionally ban any statewide legalization of non-pharmaceutical psychoactive drugs (including cannabis). The proposal still has to pass the House in a two-thirds vote and would then move to voters via a ballot initiative next year.

Lawmakers in Idaho are set to consider a bipartisan bill to legalize medical cannabis even after a proposal to constitutionally ban all psychoactive drugs (including cannabis) was advanced from the Senate State Affairs Committee.

Idaho state Sen. Scott Grow (R) proposed legislation on Monday that would add the prohibition of cannabis and other psychoactive drugs to the state’s constitution, making legalization and other reforms more difficult.

The Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho has proposed amending its Tribal Code to allow for hemp cultivation, processing, and distribution.

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee has blocked a bill to legalize hemp production in the state, likely killing the proposal and ending any hope for passing hemp legalization in 2020.

An Idaho judge has ruled that Colorado company Big Sky Scientific must forfeit its 6,701-pound hemp shipment that was seized by Idaho State Police last year.

A bill to legalize industrial hemp is set for a hearing in the Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee; farmers would be able to begin growing hemp under the proposal this year if the bill is signed into law.

An official report has suggested that cannabis sales are 420 percent higher along the state border with Idaho, where cannabis remains illegal.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued an executive order to allow interstate hemp transport through Idaho.

Big Sky Scientific, whose 6,700-pound shipment of industrial hemp was confiscated in January by Idaho State Police, says it will drop its lawsuit if the impounded hemp shipment is returned. It’s not known whether the hemp would still be usable.

Multiple interstate hemp shipments have been seized by Idaho police — at least one shipment has been returned but, in another incident, a trucker still faces a potential five-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.

Idaho advocates are gearing up to push a medical cannabis ballot initiative to voters during next year’s general election.