Republican wants voters to change their minds, repeal legal weed

In November 2020, Arizona voters passed Proposition 207, which legalized marijuana for recreational users 21 years or older. Licensed retail sales began in January of 2021 and dispensaries have dominated the Arizona landscape ever since.

If any voters have regrets about that, they may have a chance to undo it this November.

Sean Noble is looking to roll all that progress back. A longtime GOP political strategist with the firm American Encore who campaigned against recreational weed in 2016, Noble is pushing a ballot initiative titled the “Sensible Marijuana Policy Act.” Filed in mid-December, it aims to “restore sensible marijuana policy in Arizona” by repealing laws related to “authorizing and regulating marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities.” 

Essentially, it’d undo the weed status quo since 2021. Rather than buying weed by walking into a dispensary and showing they’re at least 21 years old, Arizonans would need to see a doctor and pay the $150 to $250 a year to receive a medical marijuana card. Noble said he’s working on his ballot initiative because the marijuana industry has “not really lived up to what they claimed” and studies that have shown how “damaging” THC – the active substance in marijuana — is to kids’ “brain development.” 

“The hope is that we just stop marketing it, as prolifically as it is, and making it available as it is for kids,” Noble said. While Noble said a kid in his extended family has used weed, he “hasn’t seen personal impacts.” Instead, he’s “relied on the medical studies that have been done, the research that’s been published, as kind of a driver.”

But Julie Gunnigle, the director of Arizona NORML — the local branch for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws — called the measure “incredibly misguided” and “troubling.”

“I will be the first person to tell you there are issues in the marijuana industry,” Gunnigle said. “But the solution to those issues is not to blow up the entire adult use program.” 

Rewind to 2020

Under Noble’s initiative, weed possession would not be recriminalized and Arizonans wouldn’t be stopped from growing their own weed. But non-medical users wouldn’t be able to go into a dispensary anymore and marijuana purchases would be criminalized.

Gunnigle said this change will lead customers to “turn to the illicit market,” which will face increased demand as the legal supply evaporates. That means customers will turn to products that aren’t as safe as dispensary products, which are regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services. Plus, “we are going to see a giant jump in prosecutions for sales,” she added. 

“That’s what people are going to do when you make access to cannabis less convenient, less efficient, and you’re gonna end up with product that is less regulated and less tested,” Gunnigle said. “Oh, and by the way, the state isn’t reaping any of the benefits of those sales.” 

The state took in $47 million in tax revenue from legal weed sales in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the Arizona Department of Revenue. Since July 2021, the state has collected more than $242 million in weed excise taxes.

Noble called it “silly” for a weed consumer “to go to the illicit market when they can go to the medical dispensary and get it tax-free.” In fact, medical marijuana sales are not tax-free, though they are taxed at a lower rate than recreational sales. Noble’s initiative would not eliminate excise taxes on medical weed. On the other hand, illicit weed is tax-free by definition, and Arizonans weren’t obtaining medical cards en masse before recreational use was legalized.

Noble’s initiative is part of a larger push to put recreational weed back in the closet nationwide. Currently, the marijuana prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana is participating in recreational weed repeal efforts in Massachusetts and Maine. Noble said the group hasn’t made a commitment to be in Arizona yet, but he’s spoken with the group.

On the other hand, President Donald Trump has signaled his intention to reschedule marijuana as a less dangerous drug, opening up research opportunities and potentially allowing cannabis businesses to access more banking options.

Noble’s initiative will have to clear a high bar to get on the ballot. Noble will need to collect 255,949 signatures to appear on the November 2026 election ballot; more realistically, he’ll need to collect closer to 300,000 to account for signatures that are found to be invalid. To pass it, voters will have to be prepared to make a stunning about-face, but Noble thinks Arizonans will be “supportive” of his initiative.

Gunnigle disagrees.

“We are predicting that if this were to make the ballot,” she said, “it will go down in spectacular flames.”