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Advocates aim to legalize adult-use cannabis with ballot initiative

ST. LOUIS RECORD

Monday, November 25, 2024

Advocates aim to legalize adult-use cannabis with ballot initiative

Legislation
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Ashcroft

Fair Access Missouri has filed four ballot initiatives with Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft that, if approved by voters next year, will repeal all cannabis-related laws in Missouri.

Currently, certain registered medical marijuana patients who have been released from prison can be reincarcerated if they test positive for THC because cannabis is still illegal under federal law, according to media reports.

“Once state laws are repealed, whoever will want to reinstate some of the laws but they'll have to reinstate them not based on our history of prohibition but in a thoughtful way because medical marijuana is now legal statewide,” said Eric McSwain, chairman of the Missouri Cannabis Industry Association and spokesman for Fair Access Missouri. “We'll be able to get in front of these folks and try to educate them as to why it's good policy or bad policy and those sorts of things.”

While Marijuana Moment reported that probation officers are returning parolees to prison for using marijuana that has been prescribed to them legally for medical use, the Canna Convict Project is advocating for medical marijuana patients statewide so that they are permitted to freely use their medicine.

“There are some caveats in the agreements of parolees that are a gray area right now,” McSwain told the St. Louis Record. “As far as we're concerned, if you're on parole and you are a medical patient and a doctor has recommended this for you and you have a clear medical need to use it, there's no reason whatsoever why someone on parole couldn't consume medical marijuana in particular.”

One of the ballot initiatives that was filed would create an adult-use legal marijuana program, also known as recreational use.

“In a lot of adult-use states that currently have adult-use legal marijuana in place, you'll find medical patients who just consume on the adult-use market because they don't need a doctor to provide them with guidance,” McSwain said. “What they can get on the adult-use market serves the exact same need as what they might get on the medical market. The idea is to bring adult-use to Missouri. We feel that if you're 21 or over, you should have the option of consuming marijuana just as you would alcohol.”

The other three ballot initiatives that Fair Access Missouri filed collectively aim to improve the existing medical marijuana program.

“In our opinion, there are just some items that should be improved,” McSwain said. “For example, the ability for the state to cap licenses is something we oppose. We believe that a more free-market model will be better for the economy of Missouri. It would be better for entrepreneurs. It will be better for patients and so forth. There are a few other smaller items in there that would just create a more robust medical market and particularly one that is patient first.”

McSwain added that after Ashcroft approves the ballot initiatives next month, Fair Access Missouri will be focused on fundraising.

“We're going to need a whole lot of help along the way,” he said. “We're always trying to rally other groups to our side to help support us and we could always use additional funding. It's going to be an extremely expensive process to go through, millions of dollars, in fact. We're going to need signature gathers. We just ask that that people give us a look and educate themselves and hopefully they'll want to get involved.”

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