Fate of Legal Marijuana Industry to Be Placed in the Hands of Missouri Voters in 2012

2/2/2012

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan last fall gave her approval to circulate petitions filed by Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, a political group that has been lobbying for a legal medical pot program in the state of Missouri. The organization has until May 6 this year to show 150,000 signatures in 6 out of 9 congressional districts for the twin ballot initiatives to appear on the ballot during the November 2012 election.

The first proposal seeks to amend Missouri’s constitution legalizing marijuana for those aged 21 years and older, and at the same time, permitting doctors to prescribe the use of medical pot. The proposal also includes the release from jail of non-violent marijuana prison inmates and also reintroduces legal hemp industry farming into the cash-strapped state, allowing the state legislature to enact marijuana taxes of up to one hundred dollar per pound. The second proposal simply seeks to enact a state cannabis statute instead of amending the Missouri Constitution.

In the midst of a Republican primary fever and the coming 2012 presidential election, candidates would be prudent to focus on a highly-divisive issue like marijuana law reform, especially in the light of voters’ disappointment with President Obama’s apparent betrayal of the issue’s supporters.

Paul DeClermant, a Kansas City Democrat, said, “To say we are incensed at the President is a staggering understatement.”

“The internet went crazy during the 2008 campaign about how supportive he was of medical marijuana programs and how he believed that it should be up to each state to decide, without federal interference. He completely lied and stabbed us in the back,” said DeClermant.