NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — On November 5, voters rejected an effort to make marijuana legal in the state, for the third time.

However, North Dakota wasn’t the only state to reject it. South Dakota and Florida voters rejected their legalization proposals as well.

So, what does this mean, and what’s next?

At the national level, it’s “going to be a potentially tougher hill to climb going forward to enact legalization,” explained Paul Armentano, deputy director of the marijuana advocacy organization, NORML.

National leaders say they’re going to now focus on efforts in state legislatures.

“I think that there is going to be some pivoting in tactics going forward,” Armentano said. “Potentially there could be some shifting in the way this issue has been framed.”

In some Democratic-led states, marijuana advocates have pushed for legalization while emphasizing social justice and equity arguments, noting that disproportionate enforcement of drug laws has resulted in minorities facing incarceration at a higher rate than white people, despite similar rates of cannabis use.

But when focusing on Republican-led states, Armentano said, advocates may need to stress the potential for marijuana legalization to yield cost savings and free up police and prosecutors to focus on other crimes.

In North Dakota, marijuana supporters say there’s hope in the failure of Measure 5. The proposal drew more votes than the other four measures on the ballot. And while it was a third loss, the margin between the votes was the smallest of the three losses, with 47.45% voting “Yes” and 52.55% voting “No.”

New Economic Frontier, the group supporting legalized marijuana in North Dakota, said after the vote, “This conversation is far from over. The close outcome in North Dakota shows that people want local control over the cannabis policy, without our own approach, the state risks having to follow national regulations that might not reflect the state’s values.”

Steve Bakken was the chairman of the organizing committee for Measure 5. A former Bismarck mayor and current Burleigh County Commissioner, Bakken believes North Dakota should set its own rules for legal marijuana in the state before the federal government does.

“Without local control, North Dakota could find itself forced into a one-size-fits-all approach, and we know that is rarely successful,” said Bakken. “We urge lawmakers to pay attention to the growing support for cannabis reform and consider policies that better reflect the needs and values of North Dakota.”

Thus, the effort forward will focus on changes at the state legislative level.