The North Dakota Senate voted down House Bill 1596 on April 9, 2025, reported by the Grand Forks Herald as 14-32. The bill would have lowered most marijuana possession penalties by one criminal class. Adults 21 and older would have received a noncriminal citation for 14 grams or less.
The penalty for ingesting marijuana would have dropped from a class B misdemeanor to an infraction. Sen. Diane Larson opposed it, saying criminal offenses exist for a reason, while Sens. Judy Lee and Kyle Davison supported it. Lee noted about 90 percent of drug offenses are small-amount marijuana possession charges.
Why it matters: North Dakota keeps criminal penalties for small-amount possession, and by a legislator's account most drug offenses there are for that.
Source: Grand Forks Herald (Forum News Service), 2025-04-09. Forgotten Prisoner's account is based on this reporting.