{"id":56143,"date":"2022-07-27T05:43:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T13:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/07\/27\/missouri-marijuana-legalization-initiative-short-of-signatures-needed-for-ballot-in-county-reviews\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T08:45:21","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T16:45:21","slug":"missouri-marijuana-legalization-initiative-short-of-signatures-needed-for-ballot-in-county-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/07\/27\/missouri-marijuana-legalization-initiative-short-of-signatures-needed-for-ballot-in-county-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Marijuana Legalization Initiative Short Of Signatures Needed For Ballot In County Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The figures are unofficial and subject to amendment until the final August 9 deadline for the secretary of state to determine if the campaign succeeded.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

An initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri will need help if it is going to be on the November ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reports from almost every county in the state, delivered to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft\u2019s (R) office, show the petition is short of its goal in two of the six congressional districts needed to qualify for the ballot.<\/p>\n

It is 1,573 signatures short in the 6th Congressional District, which runs from Kansas City to the Iowa border, and 1,144 signatures short in the 7th Congressional District in southwest Missouri around Springfield and Joplin.<\/p>\n

The same reports show that a proposal to bring ranked-choice voting to Missouri failed to obtain the necessary signatures in any congressional district.<\/p>\n

The figures are unofficial and subject to amendment until the final August 9 deadline for Ashcroft to determine whether the campaign succeeded or not, spokeswoman Madison Walker wrote in an email to The Independent.<\/p>\n

Legal Missouri 2022, which pushed the ballot measure with a $5.9 million campaign effort, wasn\u2019t ready Tuesday to admit the effort was finished. John Payne, Legal Missouri\u2019s campaign manager, said the reports of local election authorities are being double checked to identify possible errors.<\/p>\n

Roughly 400,000 signatures were submitted for the petition<\/a> to legalize adult use of marijuana and automatically expunge most nonviolent past cannabis offenses, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we continue to see more signature counts submitted by counties, it\u2019s become crystal clear that we have more than enough signatures to qualify our citizens\u2019 initiative for the November general election ballot,\u201d Payne said. \u201cThe Legal Missouri 2022 campaign continues to work to ensure that every valid voter signature is counted properly, and is excited that Missouri voters will soon have their opportunity to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

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pic.twitter.com\/duunGMNp1P<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Legal Missouri 2022 (@LegalMo22) July 27, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The Legal Missouri initiative would expand the current medical marijuana businesses program by allowing existing licensees to serve both medical and non-medical purchasers. There would be an additional 144 licenses for what will be known as \u201cmicrobusiness facilities,\u201d with six dispensaries and 12 wholesale facilities in each congressional district. It would also require expungement of marijuana offenses from criminal records.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Legal Missouri lobbied heavily against a bill introduced in the Missouri House that would have legalized marijuana use and set up a fairly simple licensing system<\/a> similar to that used to license liquor businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 16,000 liquor licenses in this state. I don\u2019t see why we should be treating cannabis any differently,\u201d said state Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Defiance and sponsor of the legislation.<\/p>\n

Told that the initiative is currently short of the needed signatures, Hicks said it was \u201cwonderful news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks is leaving the Missouri House due to term limits, but he urged lawmakers to pass a simple legalization bill in the coming year. License limits that are artificially low hurt small entrepreneurs, especially minority businesses, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do it the right way, through the legislature, the state will be better off,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n

Both the Legal Missouri and Better Elections initiatives were proposed constitutional amendments, meaning they needed signatures from registered voters equal to 8 percent of the vote from the 2020 gubernatorial election in each of six of the state\u2019s eight congressional districts.<\/p>\n

Legal Missouri succeeded in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th districts. Of the 379,336 signatures submitted for those districts, 52.1 percent were deemed valid.<\/p>\n

Signatures are checked by local county clerks and election boards.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Schumer Defends Marijuana Bill, Saying There\u2019s \u2018Overwhelming Evidence\u2019 Legalization Doesn\u2019t Increase Crime<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Missouri Marijuana Legalization Initiative Short Of Signatures Needed For Ballot In County Reviews<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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The figures are unofficial and subject to amendment until the final August 9 deadline for the secretary of state to determine if the campaign succeeded. By Rudi Keller, Missouri Independent An initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri will need help if it is going to be on theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56143"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56144,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56143\/revisions\/56144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}