Medical marijuana

Missouri voters will decide this November whether to legalize recreational marijuana, four years after they first approved the drug for medicinal use. But will advocates be able to get the votes to pass this constitutional amendment?

Critics of the Legal Missouri amendment say it furthers the mistakes of the state’s medical marijuana market and will continue to push out minority growers and small businesses.

Two initiatives proposing amendments to the Missouri Constitution were submitted Sunday. If each has sufficient signatures, they will likely be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Advocacy groups consider the move harassment of business owners. Cannabis products are legal in Kansas only with very small amounts of hemp-derived THC.

The caps have become a point of controversy, with critics saying they’ve encouraged a monopoly in the medical marijuana program and create the appearance of corruption.

To date, the Canna Convict Project has already secured the release of 8 Missouri citizens from prison.

One bill in the Missouri House would legalize recreational adult-use marijuana in the state and open the door for nonviolent marijuana offenders to petition for expungement. Meanwhile, advocates are circulating an initiative petition in an effort to place legalization on the November 2022 ballot.

Last year, a sheriff’s deputy in Dickinson County, Kansas, stopped one of Empyreal Logistics' vehicles on Interstate 70 and seized nearly $166,000 in cash it was transporting from legal medical marijuana dispensaries in Kansas City, Missouri, to a credit union in Colorado.

Kansas nearly passed legislation last year that would have legalized cannabis for medical use. If it does so this year, it may be available by early 2024.

More than 2,000 applications were submitted for medical marijuana licenses in 2019, but fewer than 400 were ultimately awarded. And while the state doesn’t track the race of those who got a license, people in the burgeoning industry say few went to Black-owned businesses.

The Administrative Hearing Commission heard testimony that made Missouri’s process to evaluate medical marijuana licenses seem rushed and governed by “intentionally vague guidance.”

As a number of marijuana legalization efforts aim for the 2022 ballot, some lawmakers are proposing an “automatic” system that would have the courts identify old, non-violent marijuana offenses and seal them on people’s records. Other ideas would require people to submit a petition and pay a fee.