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Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services//May 5, 2026//
Cannabis critic mellows out on initiative to eliminate recreational marijuana
A cannabis plant. (Wallace Araujo / Pexels)
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services//May 5, 2026//
Arizonans who enjoy marijuana recreationally won’t have to worry about it being taken away — at least not this year.
Sean Noble told Capitol Media Services he is scrapping his plan to ask Arizona voters in November to reconsider the legality of recreational use.
Noble, the founder and president of the conservative-oriented American Encore, said he started the initiative petition drive not to oppose the medicinal use of marijuana, legalized by voters in 2010, but to address the abuses stemming from the 2020 marijuana law which allows all adults above the age of 21 to buy, grow and use the marijuana for recreational purposes.
“I’ve adjusted my viewpoints on the threat to kids,” said Noble.
But that’s not the only change of heart that has prompted Noble to abandon his initiative drive.
He also acknowledged that the political winds surrounding the issue are changing — and not exactly in favor of greater regulation.
Most recently, the Trump administration has reversed the 1970 policy set under President Nixon which classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, or a substance with high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical treatments in the United States, to Schedule 3.
Schedule 3 substances are generally considered drugs with a moderate to low risk of physical or psychological dependence.
More importantly, that new classification recognizes the currently accepted medical uses of marijuana — a change acknowledging what most states already concluded when approving the psychoactive plant for medical use years ago.
While the actions of the Trump administration largely affect only the prescription-writing ability of doctors, it signals a large-scale shift in how the U.S. sees marijuana from a legal and commercial perspective.
And there’s something else.
Proposition 207, the 2020 initiative legalizing marijuana for recreational use, was approved by a 3-2 margin. And Noble said he hasn’t seen a major change in public attitudes in the past six years that would make it worth the time — and money — to try and overturn that majority.
Initially, Noble figured it would take $5 million to gather the 255,949 valid signatures necessary by the July 2 deadline to get the issue on the ballot. And the campaign itself? Noble said it could run between $10 million and $20 million.
Central to all of this is Arizona’s two-step move to make marijuana more available.
The first change came in 2010 when voters decided to let doctors “recommend” marijuana to patients with any one of a number of specified medical “debilitating medical conditions” like cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, hepatitis C and Crohn’s disease.
But it also allows a doctor to write a recommendation for conditions that produce severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures and muscle spasms. Those who qualify are entitled to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, with permission for those who live at least 25 miles from a dispensary to cultivate their own.
Six years later, proponents of recreational marijuana were ready to push for the next step.
Noble worked against that ballot measure. And he said that, with foes financing the opposition, it was defeated 51-49.
But by 2020, he said, there was no opposition left, leading to that 3-2 approval.
That law permits adults — defined as 21 and older — to have up to an ounce of marijuana and up to six plants. It also requires users to pay a significant tax on purchases that isn’t applied to those certified for medical use.
Noble, in submitting an application in December for an initiative to repeal the 2020 law, said voters should take a second look. And key, he told Capitol Media Services at the time, was his fear that the drug was being marketed, at least indirectly, to children — despite promises to the contrary by supporters.
“I went into it with a pretty profound belief that it was happening,” he said this week, but admitted this was not based on any personal knowledge. “I was kind of relying on things that I had seen or read from other people.”
Only by doing further research, Noble said, did he come to the conclusion that his assumptions were wrong.
“They have not done some of the things that I thought they were doing,” he said of those selling the drug.
“I don’t think that they’re specifically marketing gummies and candies and that kind of thing the way that I was led to believe that they were doing,” Noble continued. “Maybe they’re doing that in other states. But it’s not happening here in Arizona.”
And, to the extent it is, that will soon disappear.
A new law approved last year makes it illegal to advertise or sell marijuana using any names that resemble or imitate food or drink brands marketed to children. Also forbidden in the law, which takes effect July 1, is the use of the images or likenesses of toys, cartoons, animated or fictional characters — a list that specifically includes Santa Claus.
Marijuana advertising will be banned on buses, trains and shuttles, with billboards prohibited within 1,000 feet of any child care center, church, substance abuse recovery facility, public park or playground, or any public or private school that teaches children through the 12th grade.
Also off limits would be using social media or on a website unless 73.6% of its audience is expected to be at least 21.
That percentage is not random.
Rep. Selina Bliss, who crafted the measure, said it is based on Census Bureau data, which indicated that the number is the percentage of the U.S. population that is at least 21. More to the point, the Prescott Republican said that’s the standard set by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States for determining whether advertising is targeted at adults or children.
That same figure shows up elsewhere in the new law: It will bar marijuana retailers from sponsoring any sporting event unless at least 72.6% of the audience is expected to be 21 or older.
Noble’s American Encore has a history in Arizona of working largely on Republican priorities, going back to a 2014 effort to kill the Affordable Care Act. His organization also sued Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over provisions in the state’s Elections Procedures Manual.
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