The effort by anti-potters to halt Maine’s marijuana party failed to catch fire, state officials say.
The Secretary of State’s Office says the people behind the citizens petition missed the February 2 deadline, according to WGME-TV.
The petitioners were working to gather the nearly 68,000 signatures they needed to make the ballot in November.
The secretary of state says they didn’t submit any on Monday.
The proposal would have asked Mainers if they wanted to end recreational pot sales.
The measure also would have put stricter testing requirements on medical marijuana.
The changes would have ended commercial production and sales of cannabis and stopped the growing of cannabis for personal consumption, but would not have criminalized marijuana possession in recreational quantities.
The referendum would have adopted stricter tracking and testing standards for medical marijuana and required testing for certain dangerous pesticides, including potentially fatal chemicals like fenobucarb and isoprocarb, which are illegal in the U.S.
Illegal Chinese marijuana growers have been found to use the toxic chemicals as pesticides, including substances that even the Chinese government does not approve for use as pesticides.
