Cannabis in Idaho

Idaho has no legal cannabis market of any kind. It has no medical program, no decriminalization and no legal retail sales. Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Montana all sell to adults, which is why Idahoans drive to Ontario, Oregon, where more than 90 percent of customers were estimated to come from Idaho in a 2024 Portland Monthly report.

Possession of three ounces or less is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, and a law signed by Governor Brad Little added a $300 mandatory minimum fine for adults. More than three ounces but less than a pound is a felony with up to five years and $10,000. Bringing cannabis home from Oregon is a state crime as well as a federal one, and Payette County's sheriff told the Idaho Statesman in 2019 that his office had no plans to change how it handles Oregon purchasers.

Idaho is also unusual on hemp. The state defines industrial hemp at the federal 0.3 percent delta-9 THC limit for the plant, but the Idaho Office of Drug Policy treats consumer CBD as legal only when it contains no detectable THC, and Schedule I in Idaho Code 37-2705 covers any preparation containing tetrahydrocannabinols. Delta-8 is illegal.

Two citizen initiatives, the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act and a decriminalization measure, failed to qualify for November 2026; the Secretary of State said the medical measure missed signature count and distribution requirements on July 14. What will appear is House Joint Resolution 4, which passed the House 58 to 10 and the Senate 29 to 6. A yes vote would make the legislature the only body able to legalize marijuana or other psychoactive substances and would end the citizen initiative route for such measures.