Nearly six years after adult-use marijuana was legalized in Arizona, a new ballot initiative targets Arizona’s regulatory practices for legal cannabis sales. The Sensible Marijuana Policy Act for Arizona, which was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State last month, does not seek to criminalize marijuana, but hopes to ban recreational dispensaries, cultivation and manufacturing facilities, testing labs, commercial sales and cannabis-related taxes. Possession of cannabis, along with the ability to grow up to six plants would remain legal, but there would be no way for Arizonans to legally purchase recreational marijuana. Arizona’s medical marijuana program would remain intact.
Spearheaded by Sean Noble, the president of American Encore — a political interest group that describes itself as an organization rooted in American exceptionalism. Noble’s efforts have been heavily bankrolled by a different anti-cannabis interest group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, where he seeks to raise at least $5 million. In an interview with the Arizona Daily Star, Noble explained that the proposal was driven by concerns with how cannabis is marketed in the state. “They said, ‘We’re not going to be marketing to children, we’re not going to be making this easy, we’re not going to be making THC levels super extreme,” Noble said.
Those in support of cannabis legalization and regulatory practices that are subsequently required by law, have concerns of their own. Morgan Fox, the political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told the Arizona Daily Star that this proposal would destroy necessary regulation that protects consumers from black market products. “Prohibitionists failed to make the case for continuing to criminalize cannabis consumers in Arizona and other states where voters had a choice in the matter,” Fox said. “Now they are trying to mislead voters into thinking that recriminalizing responsible behaviors and pushing consumers back to the underground market will somehow improve public health. It’s shameful, disrespectful to voters and woefully misguided.”
The initiative needs 255,949 signatures by July 2026 in order to appear on the 2026 ballot.