Missouri marijuana legalization initiatives for 2022

• Several groups in Missouri are working to legalize marijuana in Missouri in 2022.

• Legal Missouri 2022 is the latest legalization request to be submitted to officials for approval.

• The Secretary of State’s office has turned down several previous attempts to petition to legalize marijuana in Missouri.

• Fair Access Missouri, another group trying to legalize marijuana in Missouri, has opposed Legal Missouri’s 2022 proposal. Details below.

Legal Missouri 2022 submitted the latest petition to the State Department to legalize marijuana in Missouri. The petition language – which is not undisputed – will now go through a review period before it is possibly certified. If approved, in order to qualify for the vote, petitioners must collect 171,592 valid signatures from registered voters in Missouri.

The state currently has a program that gives qualified patients access to medical marijuana dispensaries in Missouri. The new proposal could increase the number of marijuana dispensaries in the state by more than half.

If the marijuana legalization initiative passes by voters in Missouri in 2022, the proposal would allow adults 21 and older to buy, own, and even grow cannabis for personal use, while keeping criminal records for those with minor marijuana- Offenses will be deleted. (To illustrate the problem, state-provided data shows that Missouri law enforcement officers logged more than 10,000 marijuana arrests in 2018 alone.)

Regulators would be tasked with developing rules and setting ownership limits. However, the proposal calls for a minimum possession limit of three ounces of dried marijuana.

Many Missouri residents are expected to want to grow marijuana at home. To do this, they would have to register with the state to grow marijuana for personal use. Breeders would limit themselves to cultivating six mature and six immature plants in addition to six clones.

The proposal includes a six percent tax on marijuana sales. The municipalities could raise an additional sales tax of up to three percent.

The revenue from recreational marijuana taxes in Missouri would help fund the automatic extermination of those with previous nonviolent cannabis convictions, as well as veteran health care and drug abuse treatment programs.

The bill will potentially add more than 140 new marijuana dispensaries in Missouri

The initiative focuses on social justice. The proposal calls for the creation of a new license category. Licenses would be provided to low-income residents, disabled military veterans, and those living in an area with high poverty or high unemployment or with marijuana-related incarceration rates.

The proposal envisages at least 144 licenses in addition to the existing 378 cannabis companies in the state, of which 18 (including at least six pharmacies in Missouri) will be added in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.

Another new license category allows operators to both grow and manufacture cannabis products such as capsules, tinctures, edibles, vape cartridges, topicals and concentrates. The move is designed to help lower the price of medical marijuana in Missouri by making the supply chain more efficient.

Individual jurisdictions could opt out of allowing marijuana stores, but only if voters agree to such a ban.

Other Missouri Legalization Initiatives

Missouri has become something of a hub for the 2022 legalization effort, with multiple campaigns working to get reforms on the ballot.

Another group, Fair Access Missouri, is looking into several similar marijuana legalization initiatives, as well as one that would only change the state’s existing medical marijuana program.

Interestingly, Fair Access Missouri claims that the Legal Missouri 2022 initiative is “trying to get voters to hit quickly,” claiming:

“There’s another seedy plot hiding in the fine print from the people who made our current mess – except this time they’re trying to get a constitutional monopoly on a nationwide adult cannabis market. We all know Missourians are ready to legalize marijuana. It’s common sense. The question is whether we will have an artificially closed market that cannot be fixed or whether we will have an open market that empowers consumers and encourages entrepreneurship. “

The activists behind Legal Missouri 2022 are also affiliated with New Approach Missouri, a group that developed the voter-approved medical cannabis initiative to propose another similar move. The organization tried to raise the issue of legalizing recreational activities in front of voters last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has thwarted those efforts.

The State Secretariat has rejected most of the proposals, including revised versions, several times. Meanwhile, some supporters of marijuana legalization in Missouri are urging state lawmakers to reform the state’s cannabis policy.

Missouri medical marijuana

Missouri’s medical marijuana program was approved by voters in 2018. Amendment No 2 got a respectable 65 percent of the voters in Missouri.

The move would further build on the state’s existing medical cannabis program, in part by allowing caregivers to recommend marijuana to patients.

How to get a medical marijuana card

When it comes to flexibility, Missouri’s medical marijuana program is pretty advanced. Doctors may recommend marijuana or other cannabis products to treat qualified conditions like PTSD, all types of cancer, and seizure disorders like epilepsy. Doctors are also able to approve patients for “any other chronic, debilitating, or other disease”.

According to the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), 12,062 were renewed last year, in addition to the 56,488 Missouri medical marijuana cards issued in 2020. In addition, the DHSS approved 17 new pharmacies, 10 growing operations, two test laboratories, two transport centers and a production facility this year.

The future of marijuana laws in Missouri

The state of Missouri may very well have an adult recreational marijuana program that allows people to buy marijuana without getting a medical marijuana card. If so, the medical marijuana program is expected to shrink to some extent.

The states around Missouri – with the exception of Illinois – are overwhelmingly conservative. These border states could take years to legalize marijuana. In a few years, Missouri could be a top contender in the Heartland of America.

MISSOURI MARIJUANA FIRST, READ THIS …

MISSOURI MARIJUANA IS CLOSER TO THE LAW, READ THIS!