Arizona Voter Initiative Seeks to Legalize All Drugs in 2018 Election

If a pair of voter initiatives gets the requisite signatures in time, Arizona could be voting to legalize it all in November 2018.

Legalize it... all?

An Arizona organization has filed two voter initiative applications, one seeking to legalize marijuana and the other to legalize the rest—including “heroin, cocaine, LSD and peyote.”

The organization, RAD Final, filed the applications to Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan on Wednesday.

I-13-2018 proposes a blanket legalization of all drugs. It requires 150,642 signatures by July 5, 2018 to make it onto the ballot in the November 2018 elections.

“This initiative is 100% complete legalization of all drugs,” according to Reagan’s office. “It forbids the government from taxing or regulating any drug.”

Among a number of additional goals, the group is also seeking to win “complete, automatic pardons” to everyone who has been convicted of a drug-related crime, “civilly punishes government employees” who infringe on the rights of the people, “forbids extraditing for drug crimes” and makes it illegal to discriminate against drug users.

I-14-2018 seeks to legalize recreational marijuana as well as the complete pardon of all people convicted of marijuana-related crimes, reflecting the same demands as its sister initiative. It also must fulfill the same signature and deadline requirements.

The marijuana initiative is meant to succeed where Proposition 205 did not. Voted down in last year’s November elections, the proposition would have legalized recreational marijuana for everyone aged 21 and older.

Mike Adams at Merry Jane believes the bill is not industry friendly, which will prevent it from gaining traction. “It would not allow the state to establish any kind of taxed and regulated marketplace, so there is no chance of seeing cocaine sold in retail outlets anytime soon,” he writes.

RAD Final may find themselves hard-pressed to get the required amount of signatures. Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2404 on Thursday, which prevents signature collectors from being paid per signature, forcing groups like RAD Final to pay signature collectors the minimum wage instead.

“It protects the voters’ ability to directly weigh-in on how the state is run, provides for an additional check on the legality and accuracy of initiative language, helps increase the likelihood of quality, accurate signatures and ensures that signature gatherers are paid appropriately for their work,” the governor argued in a statement.