The organizers have enough valid signatures to put a question about cannabis legalization on the Missouri general election ballot this fall.
Legal Missouri 22, An organization that advocates for recreational marijuana legalization in the state, has collected more than 170,000 signatures in support of legalization — enough to bring the question to a vote, state Republican Attorney General Jay Ashcroft announced last week.
If approved, the state constitutional amend would allow anyone over 21 to grow and purchase cannabis for their personal use. Marijuana sales would be taxed at 6 percent and would be used to fund veterans’ homes, drug treatment programs, and public defenders’ offices across the state.
Missouri residents would be automatically exonerated of any past non-violent drug convictions by the new measure.
The measure comes four year after Missouri voters unanimously approved a medical marijuana ballot. The new initiative This amendment would not be undoneAs the current law allows for higher cannabis doses than what the fall initiative proposal would allow, it is a good choice.
The 2018 medical provision passed with 66% of the vote. Missouri, however, is deeply conservative. (Ex-President Donald Trump beat President Joe Biden in Missouri by about 15 points. It’s likely that the recreational use initiative will pass with similar numbers.
Polling conducted by SurveyUSA in JulyThe results showed that 62 percent of residents support legalizing recreational marijuana use. Only 26 percent opposed it. Another 12 percent were unconvinced.
“We’re not taking anything for granted, but the data we have certainly indicated we have a good chance of passage,” attorney and cannabis legalization advocate Dan Viets said to The Columbia Tribune.
Viets stated that legalizing marijuana in Missouri would bring a net benefit for the state.
“Our experience will be similar to that of the 19 other states that have legalized it,” Viets said. “We will stop arresting 20,000 people a year for usually very small amounts of marijuana. It also will expunge the criminal records of hundreds of thousands of people with marijuana convictions.”
At least two other states — South Dakota and Maryland — will also have measures to legalize recreational marijuana useOn their ballots this autumn. In a number other states, organizers are still trying to get similar ballot measures.
