| Many cannabis stakeholders anticipated this year's midterm election to be groundbreaking for the industry and to signal a growing bipartisan support for reform, even in the most conservative parts of the country. While the push to legalize cannabis in three majority red states failed Nov. 8, after voters rejected ballot measures in South Dakota, North Dakota and Arkansas, two other states had victories: blue Maryland and red Missouri. While the passage of ballot measures in Maryland and Missouri represents a step forward for the industry, could these legalization measures be overturned in court? Paul Armentano, deputy director at NORML, told Cannabis Business Times, "It is certainly always possible that opponents after the election results could raise a legal argument. We saw it happen twice in the last election. It happened in South Dakota; it happened in Mississippi. Both of those challenges successfully nullified the votes." In 2020, South Dakota voters approved a ballot measure to legalize adult-use cannabis. A month after the measure passed, the results were challenged and later nullified by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that "Amendment A violated the state's single-subject rule in Article XXIII of the South Dakota Constitution and therefore was an unconstitutional ballot initiative," CBT reported. Several of this year's ballot measures faced litigation by opponents before the election, including Missouri, when a resident, with support from Protect Our Kids filed a lawsuit April 19 to take the adult-use measure off the November ballot, but failed. It remains unclear whether Maryland and Missouri legalization initiatives will face legal challenges, but it's important to note that Maryland’s measure has broad support from state lawmakers, unlike South Dakota, where Gov. Kristi Noem openly opposed legalization. Industry members have also learned from the lawsuit in South Dakota. "Myself and other people that are writing these laws are trying to write them in a way that's lawsuit-proof. We try to establish more single-subject, narrowly drafted measures instead of saying we're going to [legalize] cannabis and also do XYZ," Brian Vicente, founding partner of law firm Vicente Sederberg, told CBT. - Andriana Ruscitto, Associate Editor | 