Recreational Cannabis Won’t Make Missouri Ballot

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From High Times
Recreational Cannabis Won’t Make Missouri Ballot
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By Addison Herron-Wheeler April 20, 2020

While Missouri voters were excited about the chance to vote on recreational cannabis this November, it turns out they will have to wait another year, as medical cannabis won’t be making the ballot.

The organization that rallied to try and get cannabis on the ballot, Missourians for a New Approach, are suspending their efforts, according to the Springfield News Leader.

The group claimed that they dealt with difficulties getting signatures due to the shelter-in-place order that is demanding Missouri residents to stay at home to help get the COVID-19 crisis under control. In total, they needed 170,000 signatures for the Missouri ballot, and that was too hard to do with the limited time and resources they faced under lockdowns.

In response to this crisis and how it impacted their campaign, Missourians for a New Approach tried to persuade the state to let them collect signatures online instead in person. However, they weren’t successful in getting their plea to collect signatures digitally passed in time.

Is The Delay For The Best?

Not everyone thinks this delay is a bad thing. Josh Loftis, an advocate for legal, medical cannabis patients in Missouri, feels like the delay will give people more time to learn more about recreational cannabis.

“It was a poor bill written for business interests and not consumers,” Loftis told the News-Leader regarding his feelings for the language that almost made the ballot. “I hope this gives citizens time to study the issue more to be better prepared for the next push for adult use legislation. I am absolutely certain that there will be better language (a better bill) than New Approach’s in circulation, at that time.”

Although some states have actually seen an advance in cannabis policy during the lockdown, Missouri isn’t the first state to face issues collecting for ballots during quarantine.

While medical cannabis was legalized in 2018, the industry still hasn’t taken off in Missouri at the rate it has in other states, and many were hoping recreational cannabis would give it a boost. It now looks like advocates are going to have to wait at least another year.

https://hightimes.com/news/recreational-cannabis-wont-make-missouri-ballot/
 
Yeah, it kind of sucks. But, on one hand, I can wait. Last summer I paid for "doctor visit", my card and cultivators license, in total = $275. I'd hate to think that I paid so much for a simple head start. The only benefit right now is the cultivators license. Dispensaries haven't even opened yet! Why? The new law stated that all products/plants had to start from seed, and only AFTER you'd been approved to open. I believe they released the approved list about a month and a half to 2 months ago. By the time its grown, harvested, dried and cured, I'll be paying my renewal fees ($25 for the card, $100 for the cultivators license). There will be a dispensary about a 5-10 min walk from my house. And 2 others less than a 10 min drive away. Depending on the prices, if they're anything like Illinois' prices, I may just drop the card. Growing is a bit too addictive to even think about trying to stop...

On another note...less than 2yrs after payong to get my conceal carry license, MO decided ANYONE can conceal carry, AND at the same time, inacted stand your ground laws. Talk about trying to bring back the wild, wild west.

MO is a bit mixed up. You basically have 2-4 cities making up the majority of the states population - St. Louis, Kansas City, and a couple smaller ones. The rest of the states is mostly rural/farm land. OH, and we have the Ozarks!(I highly recommend you check out the Netflix show of you haven't already)
 

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