St. Louis lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession and cultivation for adults.<\/p>\n
The Board of Aldermen voted 23-0 on final passage of the cannabis measure, days after giving it preliminary approval<\/a>.<\/p>\n The proposal from Alderman Bret Narayan (D) wouldn\u2019t change Missouri state laws that continue to criminalize marijuana, but local ordinances penalizing low-level possession and cultivation would be repealed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill basically just harmonizes our local ordinance with the state\u2019s constitution, as well as further decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana,\u201d Narayan said ahead of the vote on Tuesday. \u201cIt has the buy-in from the public safety director, it has the buy-in from the director of personnel. We\u2019ve talked to basically every stakeholder along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Adults 21 and older could possess up to two ounces of marijuana without facing the civil penalty that\u2019s currently in place. It would also make it so that \u201cno resources\u201d could be spent to punish adults for cultivating up to six flowering plants.<\/p>\n Further, the proposal would permit city employees who are medical cannabis patients to present their state-issued ID cards \u201cto avoid adverse employer actions based on a positive drug test for marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n The measure, which has 11 cosponsors, is also supported by Mayor Tishaura Jones (D).<\/p>\n In a video posted on Tuesday after the Board vote, the mayor criticized \u201coutdated marijuana laws that are unfair, unnecessary and discriminatory\u201d and said she looks forward to signing the new legislation.<\/p>\n The measure will \u201chelp reduce racial disparities and give officers more time to focus on violent crime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Today, the #STLBOA<\/a> passed BB 132, which will repeal unjust marijuana laws while making St. Louis safer and more competitive. <\/p>\n I look forward to signing this critical legislation, and I appreciate its cosponsors \u2013 especially @24thWardSTL<\/a> \u2013 for their work. #TwoMinutesWithMayorTJ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/12X3uw04O5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) November 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Narayan\u2019s\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0would specifically prohibit the use of city resources to enforce laws against low-level cannabis possession, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n It would additionally prevent police from using the smell or visual presence of marijuana smoke as a basis to conduct a search or arrest someone.<\/p>\n Narayan said the legislation is meant to build upon the city\u2019s earlier 2018 reform move, when lawmakers made it so the penalty for possession would be a $25 fine. The new bill would repeal statute allowing for a penalty altogether.<\/p>\n Activities that would remain criminalized include providing marijuana to underage people, possessing excess cannabis and selling marijuana at a property that prohibits it.<\/p>\n An amendment that was adopted to the bill ahead of last week\u2019s perfection vote prohibits the public use of marijuana \u201cexcept for displays and consumption on private residential property where the person consuming marijuana is either an owner of the property, a person who has a leasehold interest in the property, or any other person who has been granted express or implied permission to consume marijuana on the property by the owner or the lessee of the property.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cwhereas\u201d section of the bill states that the reform is necessary because \u201cindividual residents of the State of Missouri are now permitted to be in possession of marijuana and to cultivate marijuana under certain circumstances\u201d and the \u201cCity of St. Louis seeks to avoid subjecting to invasive searches and seizures citizens who are lawfully availing themselves of medical therapies provided for the state constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n Missouri voters\u00a0approved a medical cannabis ballot measure<\/a>\u00a0in 2018.<\/p>\n This action from the St. Louis Board of Alderman comes one year after the Kansas City, Missouri City Council voted to approve an ordinance ending all penalties for marijuana possession<\/a>\u00a0under the municipality\u2019s local laws.<\/p>\n In that city, Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) and four local lawmakers filed the cannabis measure, which similarly repeals a provision of the Code of Ordinances stipulating that possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana carries a $25 fine and more than 35 grams is punishable by a $500 fine.<\/p>\n In September, the City Council also approved a measure making it so most government workers in Kansas City will\u00a0no longer face pre-employment drug tests for cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, at least two activists groups in the state are aiming to\u00a0place the question of adult-use marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0before voters in 2022.<\/p>\n Under Legal Missouri 2022\u2019s proposal, tax revenue from marijuana sales would first support automatic expungements for people with prior cannabis convictions and then go to programs for veterans\u2019 health care, substance misuse treatment and the state\u2019s public defender system.<\/p>\n New Approach Missouri, which has the same leaders as one of the new 2022 efforts, successfully got its\u00a0medical cannabis measure passed by voters in 2018<\/a>\u00a0in a year in which competing marijuana proposals were also on the ballot.<\/p>\n The organization tried to\u00a0place the issue of recreational legalization before voters<\/a>\u00a0last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that effort.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some advocates want the legislature to take the lead on reform. And Rep. Shamed Dogan (R), who filed a resolution last year to\u00a0ask voters about legalization on the ballot<\/a>\u00a0and compel lawmakers to develop a legal system if approved, is expected to make another push for similar legislation early next year after the prior effort failed to advance this session.<\/p>\n VA Secretary \u2018Looking At\u2019 Medical Marijuana Policy Change Following \u2018Profound\u2019 Discussion With Veteran<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post St. Louis Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana Possession And Cultivation<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
St. Louis lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession and cultivation for adults. The Board of Aldermen voted 23-0 on final passage of the cannabis measure, days after giving it preliminary approval. The proposal from Alderman Bret Narayan (D) wouldn\u2019t change Missouri state laws that continueContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51333,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51332\/revisions\/51333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: St. Louis Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana Possession And Cultivation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"