IDAHO FALLS — On Jan. 1, Montana became the 18th state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, per an election ballot initiative passed in 2021.
That shift means Idaho, a state where recreational use of marijuana remains a criminal offense, now finds more than half of its neighbors allow use of the drug.
Of the six states that share a border with Idaho, only Utah and Wyoming continue to ban recreational marijuana.
Even among those states, Idaho sticks out for its stricter rules on medical marijuana, which is legal in Utah. Wyoming allows cannabidiol oil, which is only allowed in Idaho if it has a THC concentration of 0.1% or less.
Recreational marijuana will now be available for purchase within about a 200-mile drive from Idaho Falls at dispensaries in Jackpot, Nevada, and Butte and Bozeman, Montana. But it remains illegal to possess the drug in Idaho, which has some of the nation’s strictest anti-marijuana laws.
Law enforcement say there has been an increase in marijuana in the area over the past five years, particularly in schools and among teenagers. Sgt. Bryan Lovell, public information officer for the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, said the office’s school resource officers have handled more cases of drug use by students.
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Jessica Clements, public information officer for the Idaho Falls Police Department said police have also seen more marijuana among teenagers.
She said officers have also seen people who bought marijuana legally in other states, then brought it into Idaho.
“Occasionally we run into somebody who says they purchased it legally, and for some reason they think that makes it OK to have it here,” Clements said.
Montana is the first state on Idaho’s eastern border to legalize recreational marijuana.
Even with the law changing, however, that does not mean the drug would be easily available legally because not every city and county in the state has approved retail sales. Fremont County, Idaho, borders Gallatin County, Montana, but while recreational marijuana sales will be legal in the county seat of Bozeman, they’re not approved in all the county’s towns.
Liz Roos, town clerk for West Yellowstone, a Montana town near the Idaho border, said there are no dispensaries licensed to sell marijuana in the town. She said it could be another year before any businesses are licensed to sell marijuana.
Roos added that West Yellowstone also could pass local laws against marijuana use before any dispensaries open for business.
Similarly, Dillon, Montana, in Beaverhead County, has not yet approved recreational sales.
As president of Idaho’s Fraternal Order of Police, Lovell has been involved not only in enforcing marijuana laws, but also in opposing its legalization.
Lovell said that if marijuana were to ever be legalized in Idaho, law enforcement would need the ability to react when it’s used outside the law. He gave the example of an impaired driver. Law enforcement can use a breathalyzer to determine if that person has consumed too much alcohol to be driving. In contrast, Lovell said, police would need to take a blood sample from a person and send it to a lab for testing to determine if they were impaired by marijuana.
Police opposition has seen support in Idaho’s Legislature, which in 2021 attempted to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing marijuana legalization in response to legalization in Montana.
The amendment passed in the Senate 24 to 11. It failed in the House, however, with 42 representatives voting for the amendment and 28 against it, just five votes short of the required supermajority.
In 2022, The Idaho Way, a pro-legalization organization in Idaho, is collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to legalize possession of recreational marijuana up to 3 ounces for adults 21 and older. The initiative would need to collect 65,000 signatures by May to be voted on by Idahoans in November.
A 2018 poll found that 79% of Idahoans supported legalization of medical marijuana, but that 58% opposed legalizing it for recreational use.
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