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A GOP-led bill to legalize marijuana in Missouri cleared a second House committee on Tuesday, sending the proposal to the floor with just weeks before the legislative session ends. Meanwhile, a separate activist- and industry-led campaign to put legalization on the ballot is also facing a tight deadline.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ron Hicks (R) is sponsoring the \u201cCannabis Freedom Act,\u201d which advanced out of the House Public Safety Committee<\/a> on a narrow vote late last month and has now been approved by the Rules \u2013 Legislative Oversight Committee in a 6-4 vote.<\/p>\n With the session set to end on May 13, time is of the essence. But Hicks recently said that the timeline remains feasible<\/a> and he\u2019s \u201cseen bills sail through the process in a week.\u201d The lawmaker said that it \u201creally comes down to whether we have the will to tackle it.\u201d<\/p>\n Beside legalizing possession and sale of cannabis, Hicks\u2019s bill would further provide opportunities for expungements, authorize social consumption facilities and permit cannabis businesses to claim tax deductions with the state.<\/p>\n Advocates wanted to see the bill move through the committee process without revisions to the introduced legislation, but members did end up adopting several amendments in the prior committee before this latest action.<\/p>\n The changes concern licensing caps, regulatory authority over the cannabis market and a proposal described by Hicks as a \u201cpoison pill\u201d that imposes restrictions on who would qualify for equity benefits.<\/p>\n Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist with Great State Strategies, told Marijuana Moment that he expects an effort to eliminate the licensing cap provision on the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Missouri General Assembly is aware of the issues of corruption and cronyism that have been a source of a lot of controversy in our medical marijuana program,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a real interest right now in avoiding that outcome with a recreational program. Missouri Republicans and the Democrats on this issue take a very free market point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what the cannabis legislation would accomplish:<\/strong><\/p>\n The bill would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess cannabis from licensed retailers. There doesn\u2019t seem to be a possession limit in the measure; it simply does away with existing statutes criminalizing the activity. Adults could also cultivate up to 12 plants for personal use.<\/p>\n The Missouri Department of Health and Human Services would be responsible for regulating the adult-use program, just as it currently does for medical cannabis. Before being amended in the Public Safety Committee last month, the Department of Agriculture, which handles hemp, would have had that regulatory authority.<\/p>\n The department would be required to develop rules to issue temporary and annual licenses for cannabis retailers, growers, processors, transporters and wholesale distributors.<\/p>\n As drafted, there would not have been any cap on the number of licensees that could be approved. But as amended in Public Safety, it would allow double the number of current medical cannabis licensees in the state in order to serve the adult-use market.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the legislation also says that adults could \u201ccontract\u201d with a licensed grower to cultivate up to 12 plants on their behalf for personal use and also work with licensed processors to produce marijuana products.<\/p>\n Additionally, the measure contains expungement provisions, allowing people with non-violent marijuana convictions over activities made legal under the bill to petition the courts for record clearing. Those currently incarcerated would also be eligible for resentencing, and those on probation or parole would be allowed to use marijuana.<\/p>\n Police would not be allowed to use the odor of marijuana alone to conduct a warrantless search of a person\u2019s private property under the legislation. And cannabis could not be used \u201cas a factor in family court proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill further stipulates that medical cannabis patient information cannot be shared with federal authorities.<\/p>\n \u2014 As part of the licensing amendment that was adopted in committee last month, language was added to create a loan program to support women- and minority-owned businesses participate in the market. However, a GOP member got a change attached that could undermine Democratic support because it controversially revised the equity provisions to specify that only women who are \u201cbiologically\u201d female would be eligible for the benefit.<\/p>\n The state Department of Revenue would set a tax rate for adult-use marijuana sales that could not exceed 12 percent. There would be no such tax on medical cannabis products.<\/p>\n Tax dollars that the state generates from the recreational market would be deposited into a \u201cCannabis Freedom Fund,\u201d with revenue first covering the administrative costs of implementing the marijuana program. Remaining revenue would be \u201cdivided equally between teachers\u2019 salaries, first responders\u2019 pensions, and the Missouri veterans commission.\u201d<\/p>\n Licensed marijuana businesses would also be able to make tax deductions with the state up to the amount that they\u2019d otherwise be eligible for under federal law if they were operating in a federally legal industry. Cannabis companies across the country are required to pay federal taxes, but they\u2019re barred from receiving tax benefits.<\/p>\n People who apply for a Missouri cannabis business licenses and pay the application fee could also deduct that cost if they\u2019re ultimately denied licensing.<\/p>\n Hicks\u2019s\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0also adopts a provision from a separate cannabis bill that would allow for \u201chospitality permits\u201d so that hotels, bars and restaurants could \u201csell and serve marijuana or marijuana products in private events or venues.\u201d<\/p>\n Hicks stressed in an earlier cosponsorship memo to colleagues that his omnibus bill as drafted was \u201cnot perfect,\u201d and he urged lawmakers\u2019 \u201ccontinued input as we move through the legislative process.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawmaker also specifically noted that he\u2019s working with members of the Black Caucus \u201cto further ensure that startups in this market space can access loan and grant programs to ensure that entrepreneurs can compete on an equal playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, another Missouri Republican lawmaker is again making\u00a0a push to place cannabis legalization on the ballot<\/a>. But some activists aren\u2019t waiting on the legislature to take action to refer the issue to voters, with one campaign officially launching signature gathering last month for a separate reform initiative.<\/p>\n Rep. Shamed Dogan (R)\u00a0filed his joint resolution<\/a>\u00a0to place a constitutional amendment on legalization on the 2022 ballot. He\u00a0introduced a similar proposal last year<\/a>, but it did not advance.<\/p>\n Under that plan, adults 21 and older could purchase, possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use. It also does not specify allowable amounts.<\/p>\n Another Republican lawmaker in the state, Rep. Jason Chipman (R),\u00a0filed a joint resolution<\/a> this session\u00a0that would let voters require additional oversight over how medical cannabis tax revenue is distributed to veterans.<\/p>\n Separately, the group New Approach Missouri, which successfully got a\u00a0medical cannabis initiative passed by voters in 2018<\/a>, announced last summer its plans to\u00a0put the reform proposal on the ballot<\/a>\u00a0through its new campaign committee Legal Missouri 2022.<\/p>\n The organization tried to\u00a0place the issue of legalization before voters<\/a>\u00a0in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that effort.<\/p>\n Despite the health crisis, activists managed to\u00a0collect tens of thousands of raw signatures within months<\/a>, though they needed 160,199 valid signatures to qualify.<\/p>\n A different campaign, Fair Access Missouri, separately explored multiple citizen initiatives<\/a> this year with the hopes of getting at least one on the ballot.<\/p>\n Another state lawmaker filed a bill late in February to decriminalize a range of drugs<\/a>\u00a0including marijuana, psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and cocaine.<\/p>\n The measure\u2019s introduction came after a Republican Missouri legislator filed a separate bill to give residents with serious illnesses\u00a0legal access to a range of psychedelic drugs<\/a>\u00a0like psilocybin, ibogaine and LSD through an expanded version of the state\u2019s existing right-to-try law.<\/p>\n Additionally, a Missouri House committee\u00a0held a hearing last month on a GOP-led bill<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0legalize a wide range of psychedelics for therapeutic use<\/a>\u00a0at designated care facilities while further decriminalizing low-level possession in general.<\/p>\n Nearly one out of every 10 jobs that were created in Missouri last year\u00a0came from the state\u2019s medical marijuana industry<\/a>, according to an analysis of state labor data that was released by a trade group last month.<\/p>\n Separately, there\u2019s some\u00a0legislative drama playing out in the state<\/a>\u00a0over a proposal that advocates say would restrict their ability to place Constitutional amendments on the ballot.<\/p>\n NYC Mayor Says City Will Seek Federal \u2018Waiver\u2019 For Marijuana Greenhouses On Public Housing Rooftops<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post GOP-Led Bill To Legalize Marijuana In Missouri Heads To House Floor As Key Deadline Approaches<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A GOP-led bill to legalize marijuana in Missouri cleared a second House committee on Tuesday, sending the proposal to the floor with just weeks before the legislative session ends. Meanwhile, a separate activist- and industry-led campaign to put legalization on the ballot is also facing a tight deadline. Rep. RonContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":54329,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54328"}],"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=54328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54330,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54328\/revisions\/54330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Possession, home cultivation and licensing<\/h3>\n
Social equity and consumer protections<\/h3>\n
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\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nTaxation, banking and social use<\/h3>\n
Restrictions and room for improvement<\/h3>\n
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\nRead More: GOP-Led Bill To Legalize Marijuana In Missouri Heads To House Floor As Key Deadline Approaches<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"