Will lawmakers thwart 2020 marijuana initiative?

A first reading of the 2020 ballot measure unveiled Friday by marijuanalegalization advocates shows that if you’ve got favorable tailwinds, stay the course.

The “Smart and Safe Arizona Act” proposal largely resurrects the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol initiative in 2016 that failed by only a narrow margin.

A lot looks similar — allowing adults 21 and older to legally possess up to an ounce of pot and to grow half a dozen plants at home, and a 16% tax on marijuana sales. (The 2016 measure pegged the tax at 15%.)

It also contains the same provision that opens up licenses for recreational marijuana shops first to already established players running medical marijuana dispensaries.

That means small-time newbies need not apply — especially in an industry that’s been consolidating and operated by giant enterprises.

But the new measure eliminated an even more noxious, self-serving element from the 2016 initiative: creating a department and a panel that includes medical marijuana dispensary owners to issue licenses, make rules and enforce standards. Most of those powers rest with the state Department of Health Services under the 2020 proposition.

Like the 2016 version, the “Smart and Safe Arizona Act” is savvy to make weed legalization most palatable, including directing the revenues to mostly go toward public safety and community colleges.

There’s no doubt that backers, with deep pockets, will gather the 237,645 valid signatures by July 2 next year to qualify the proposition on the 2020 ballot. And there’s only a little doubt about voter passage this go-around, regardless of the fight from foes such as county attorneys Bill Montgomery and Sheila Polk.

The question is, what, if anything, will the state Legislature do in response, given that many elected officials, including Gov. Doug Ducey, oppose legalizing pot?

Lawmakers could thwart, or at least guide, the recreational marijuana movement — through legislation or referring an initiative of their own.

Or taking the wind out of the movement’s sails, simply by decriminalizing marijuana possession and use.

They have punted so far. Will next year’s session be different?

AP Arizonans have expected another effort for legalizing marijuana following a failed effort in 2016. Details of the new proposal have now been made public.