While state Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove (D-Jackson County) argues that Legal Missouri 2022 doesn’t go far enough, one of the ballot initiative advocates says Amendment 3 is the state’s only hope to legalize adult-use cannabis.
“It is foolish to oppose the only opportunity we're going to have to legalize marijuana in the foreseeable future and that's what Amendment 3 is," said Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney who serves as the Missouri state coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) certified Legal Missouri 2022’s ballot Initiative 2022-059 last month after more than 400,000 signatures were collected.
“No, it’s not perfect but it’s better than 20,000 people being arrested and, in some cases, being put in jail every year, which is what we do under the current law, and 2.6 as many of those people are black people,” Viets told the St. Louis Record. “So, stopping those arrests is going to be a major benefit to everyone, but especially to black people.”
As previously reported, Manlove, who chairs the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, is asking Missourians to vote against the measure when they see it on the ballot in November due to it allegedly lacking equity provisions, adding penalties, and falling short of resolving cannabis criminalization racial disparities.
But Viets responded to Manlove’s accusations with the following rebuttals.
Lacks critical equity provisions
“Missouri lawmakers just passed one of the harshest prohibitions on abortion in America and made it a crime to keep library books," Viets said. "This is not a progressive legislature. This is one of the most ultra-right-wing legislatures in America. They are not going to approve equity provisions. They are not going to address racial disparities. They're not going to do any of that."
Unnecessarily adds penalties
“Currently, if you smoke a joint on the sidewalk, you will be arrested and probably have to post bond,” he said. “It is a crime but under Amendment 3, it's no longer a crime. It is an offense for which you can be given a ticket and you might have to pay a fine of up to $100 but that’s better than what we have now.”
Falls short of resolving racial disparities in cannabis criminalization.
“Amendment 3 will not solve all of the world's evils and it’s not going to ensure that everybody is happy and wealthy,” Viets added. “That’s just not possible but the NAACP was involved in drafting the initiative and we're up to four different NAACP chapters around the state that have endorsed Amendment 3.”