From South Dakota to Michigan, red states are trying to overturn legalization votes and blue states are taxing the market to death. Nearly 90% of Americans want legal cannabis. It’s time consumers acted like the majority they are.
This article originally appeared in High Times’ Spring/Summer 2026 print edition. Get yours here.
Nearly 90% of Americans—including majorities of Democrats and Republicans—say that marijuana should be legal for either medical or adult use. Yet far too often, lawmakers choose to either ignore this constituency or treat them with outright hostility.
In several Republican-led states, lawmakers have overturned (or are actively trying to overturn) voters’ decisions on cannabis policy, while in Democratic-led states, lawmakers are undermining existing legalization markets by drastically hiking marijuana-related taxes.
For example, Republican lawmakers in South Dakota spearheaded legislation in early 2025 to repeal the state’s medical cannabis access law, despite 70% of voters having approved it. The measure failed, but only by a single vote.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Nebraska, where state officials and the governor set aside several of the core components of the state’s voter-initiated medical cannabis access law, including patients’ access to inhaled botanical products.
In Ohio, GOP lawmakers engaged in a multi-year effort to strip away legal protections afforded to cannabis consumers under a 2023 voter-approved initiative, including statutes protecting consumers from facing either workplace or professional disciplinary action for their private use of marijuana.
In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton (now the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate) successfully sued several cities, including Austin, Dallas, and San Marcos, to halt them from implementing voter-approved marijuana decriminalization ordinances. Lawmakers also sought to enact new statewide legislation prohibiting voters from deciding any future citywide ballot measures to liberalize marijuana penalties. (It failed. Voters in Houston will decide on a similar local decriminalization ordinance this fall.)
Republican lawmakers Idaho are also seeking to take voters out of the equation. GOP lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment (HJR 4) to appear on November’s ballot forbidding voters from weighing in on any future ballot measure to legalize marijuana. The proposed ballot question comes after lawmakers enacted legislation imposing mandatory minimum penalties for first-time marijuana offenders.
Not to be outdone, Republican lawmakers in Louisiana enacted legislation in June imposing new felony penalties on certain marijuana possession violations — punishable by up to one year in jail and hard labor.
These concerted attacks are a stark reminder that the war on cannabis and its consumers is ongoing. In some cases, it is even escalating.
So far, politicians in traditionally blue states haven’t moved to overturn marijuana-related election results. (A legalization repeal measure in Massachusetts, Question 8, is being funded almost entirely by out-of-state dark money from a single marijuana prohibitionist group.) Many, however, are trying to address budget deficits by placing a disproportionate burden on consumers.
Most notably, Michigan lawmakers voted to impose a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana sold or transferred to licensed retailers. The new tax comes on top of the existing 10% excise tax on retail marijuana sales, in addition to the state’s 6% sales tax. Since its imposition, overall tax revenue from cannabis sales has declined, as more consumers return to the unregulated market. Several state-licensed cannabis businesses have also closed their doors, citing the excessive tax burden. (Legislation is now pending in both chambers to repeal the tax hike.)
But Michigan isn’t alone. Lawmakers in Maryland and Minnesota also enacted cannabis-related tax hikes last year. (California lawmakers similarly sought to increase cannabis taxes, but eventually voted to halt the move.)
These exorbitant tax increases not only lighten consumers’ wallets during difficult economic times, but they also hurt state-licensed businesses. When lawmakers push marijuana prices artificially higher, many consumers exit the legal market and begin patronizing the unregulated marketplace, undermining one of the primary goals of legalization.
Regardless of whether one lives in a red or blue state, or in a jurisdiction where cannabis is legal or illicit, it’s time for legalization advocates and consumers to stand up and assert themselves. Cannabis consumers are neither criminals nor ATMs. They’re hard-working responsible adults. And they vote.
Now is not the time for advocates to become complacent or presume that marijuana will somehow legalize itself. Change only occurs when we agitate for it—and when elected officials fear political consequences for failing to abide by voters’ demands.
Those who support legalizing marijuana aren’t part of the ideological fringe. We’re the majority. It’s time for us to act like it—and for lawmakers to treat cannabis consumers with the respect they deserve.
Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, America’s oldest cannabis consumers’ lobby. To become a member of NORML or to support NORML’s efforts, please consider making a donation.
