N.D. agency estimates medical pot measure would cost $8.7M; supporter calls that ‘fearmongering’

BISMARCK – The North Dakota Department of Health estimates a proposed ballot measure aimed at legalizing medical marijuana would require adding 32 full-time employees and cost $8.7 million to administer in the first biennium – a figure the measure’s lead sponsor called “outrageous.”

In a memo posted to its website Wednesday, the Health Department notes that revenue generated from medical marijuana registration and fees “is not sufficient to cover the costs of implementation or the ongoing costs associated with the measure,” and a funding source will need to be found if the law ends up on the November ballot and voters approve it.

Sponsoring committee chairman Rilie Ray Morgan of Fargo said he hadn’t seen the memo until a reporter contacted him about it Thursday morning and he needed more time to study it before commenting at length. But he called the $8.7 million estimate “an outrageous figure,” noting it’s more than twice the $3.9 million fiscal note for a medical marijuana legalization bill defeated by House lawmakers in February 2015.

“For a public agency that obviously is not in favor of this to come out and make these statements like this is fearmongering at its best,” he said, accusing the department of exploiting the state’s cash-strapped status to “make this sound really bad so the voters of North Dakota will say, ‘We can’t afford that.’ ”

Read more: http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/north-dakota/4073929-nd-agency-estimates-medical-pot-measure-would-cost-87m-supporter-calls