An Idaho campaign has unveiled a newly certified initiative to put medical marijuana legalization on the state’s 2026 ballot.

The Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho (NMAI) on Wednesday announced the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act, which would provide patients with qualifying conditions access to marijuana from a limited number of dispensaries and provide a regulatory framework for the market.

About a week after Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador (R) notified the secretary of state’s office that the proposed short and long ballot title for the initiative gave a “true and impartial” overview of the reform, the campaign is now cleared to circulate petitions.

“This is about giving families and individuals options when nothing else has worked,” Amanda Watson, communications lead for NMAI, said in a press release. “This initiative was created with Idaho values in mind. It would require strong oversight, measures to prevent recreational use and most importantly, it would provide relief for thousands of Idahoans suffering from serious medical conditions. It’s a compassionate, conservative approach to health care.”

Here are the main provisions of the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act:

• Health practitioners would be able to recommend medical cannabis to patients with conditions that include, but are not limited to, cancer, anxiety and acute pain.
• Medical marijuana patients or their designated caregiver could purchase up to 113 grams of smokeable cannabis, or 20 grams of THC extract for vaping, per month.
• The state would be start by issuing three vertically integrated cannabis business licenses, after which point it could license up to six total.
• Marijuana would be reclassified under state law as a Schedule II, rather than Schedule I, controlled substance.
• State and local law enforcement would be barred from assisting in federal drug enforcement activities related to the state-legal cannabis program.
• There would be anti-discrimination protections for those who use or sell marijuana in compliance from state law, preventing adverse actions by employers, landlords and educational institutions.
• It does not appear that there would be any equity-centered reforms, nor would the initiative provide for a home grow option.

In order to make the ballot, the campaign will need to collect 70,725 valid signatures, including from at least 6 percent of registered voters in 18 of Idaho’s 35 legislative districts. NMAI is hiring paid petitioners to carry out the plan.

In light of the new medical cannabis initiative, a separate campaign that launched late last year, Kind Idaho, told supporters on Wednesday that it would be suspending its own signature gathering for a ballot initiative to legalize the personal possession and cultivation of marijuana by adults.

“In the spirit of cooperation to ensure that we have a pro-cannabis measure on the ballot in 2026, we will not be circulating the #DecriminalizeCannabisNow Petition until they have collected their 70,000 signatures,” Kind Idaho said in an email blast. “We will be advocating for their signature gatherers until that time.”

Kind Idaho previously introduced medical marijuana ballot measures intended to go before voters in both the 2022 and 2024 elections, but the efforts proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, voters next year will see a different kind of proposal on the ballot: A constitutional amendment that the legislature approved to make it so only lawmakers could legalize marijuana or other controlled substances.

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Legislators separately held a hearing in March to discuss a bill to enact medical cannabis legalization legislatively, but there hasn’t been meaningful action on the issue in the months since.

Separately, a bill from Rep. Bruce Skaug (R) earlier this year would have set a $420 mandatory minimum fine for cannabis possession, removing judges’ discretion to apply lower penalties. Skaug said the bill, which ultimately stalled in committee, would send the message that Idaho is tough on marijuana.

House lawmakers also passed a bill to ban marijuana advertisements, though the Senate later defeated the measure.

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.