Activists are calling on Missouri lawmakers to forestall the cannabis election campaign

Supporters of a Republican-backed bill legalizing recreational cannabis in Missouri rallied Tuesday in the state capital in Jefferson City to stave off momentum for a ballot initiative that would also seek to end cannabis prohibition. They would prefer things to be regulated by law.

The bill, known as the Cannabis Freedom Act, was introduced last month by GOP House Representative Ron Hicks.

If made law, the bill in question would legalize marijuana use for adults 21 and older while creating a regulated cannabis market in the state. It would also vacate some previous cannabis convictions for certain offenders.

“The Cannabis Freedom Act is the product of input from many different stakeholders, including members of law enforcement and those who have been imprisoned for conduct that society now finds acceptable,” Hicks said in an interview after the bill’s introduction. “I am particularly grateful for the input from Oklahoma State Representative Scott Fetgatter for his support in creating a free market program that is also tightly regulated.”

On Tuesday, supporters of Hicks’ proposal, including Christina Thompson, an activist for cannabis reform in the state, introduced the bill in Jefferson City against a campaign called Legal Missouri that aims to get an initiative to legalize recreational cannabis this year. The group must collect approximately 170,000 valid signatures for the initiative to qualify for voting in this election cycle.

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, the initiative would “give current medical marijuana companies the first shot at full recreational product sales and preserve the state’s ability to restrict licensing.”

“This initiative (Legal Missouri 2022) eliminates nearly all competition through constitutionally protected licensing caps,” Thompson said, as quoted by Post-Dispatch. “Recreational licenses created under the initiative will also go directly to established companies, that is, rather than opening up more business opportunities for others; Money only goes to those who are already benefiting.”

“The lack of competition and artificially inflated prices are fueling the black market,” she added, referring to the initiative. “Millions in lost revenue for our state instead funds drug cartels, human trafficking and more, while desperate patients become victims.”

The newspaper said that Hicks’ bill “does not restrict marijuana business licenses” and would both “allow home growers to own up to 12 flowering plants, allow pharmacy sales to be taxed at up to 12 percent” and eliminate “civil property” forfeiture of marijuana and places regulation of the adult use program under the control of the Cannabis Enforcement Authority, which would be housed within the Department of Agriculture.”

The Legal Missouri Campaign has countered the critics by saying “while current medical marijuana licensees would be able to convert their medical licenses to comprehensive, so-called micro-licenses are available to historically disadvantaged groups in the early days of the recreational program.” would,” says the mailing.

“All new licenses for the first 548 days will be micro-licenses reserved for smaller operators and individuals and groups adversely affected by our current, unjust marijuana prohibition laws,” said John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri. “As in most states, medical marijuana facilities will also begin to convert their licenses to comprehensive licenses.”

Missouri voters passed a constitutional amendment legalizing medicinal cannabis in 2018, and the state’s first dispensaries opened in the fall of 2020.
Last September, less than a year after the medical program launched, the state reported it had more than 140 dispensaries employing about 5,000 people. By July of last year, the state said medicinal cannabis sales had already surpassed $91 million.