In 2016, voters passed Measure 5, the North Dakota Compassionate Care Act. It authorized the sale of medical marijuana the following year, but it took the North Dakota Legislative Assembly two years to create regulations.
Only registered medical marijuana patients may legally purchase cannabis in North Dakota. The state has approximately 7K patients, and edibles are not permitted. In fact, the state highly regulates access to cannabis.
After North Dakota voters struck down Legalize ND's adult-use cannabis legalization measure in 2018, the group came back with what campaign chairman David Owen called a "compromise bill" that he initially hoped to qualify for the 2020 ballot. Unfortunately, due to COVD the group was unable to collect the necessary signatures to get on the ballot and have refocused their efforts on the 2022 ballot.
In effort to discourage activists from pursuing a far-reaching cannabis legalization plan via ballot initiative, the House Human Services Committee approved a bill to legalize cannabis in limited capacity.