{"id":57781,"date":"2022-11-02T11:45:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T19:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/11\/02\/missouri-black-leaders-divided-over-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure\/"},"modified":"2022-11-02T17:46:09","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T01:46:09","slug":"missouri-black-leaders-divided-over-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/11\/02\/missouri-black-leaders-divided-over-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Black Leaders Divided Over Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cThis amendment, despite having positive elements, reads like it was designed to benefit current vendors and license holders\u2014not everyday people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a move highlighting a growing divide among Black leaders and organizations in Missouri over a push to legalize marijuana, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) on Tuesday announced she would oppose the measure appearing on the November 8 ballot<\/a> as Amendment 3.<\/p>\n

While she supports legalization, Jones said she doesn\u2019t support etching what she believes is a potentially inequitable legalization process into the state\u2019s constitution where \u201cit can be difficult to alter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we choose the path of a constitutional amendment to resolve the matter of legalization, it would have to be forward-thinking, flexible and most of all, equitable,\u201d Jones said in a statement. \u201cThis amendment fails to meet that lofty aim. Simply put, legalization does not equal decriminalization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones joins state Rep. Ashley Bland-Manlove (D), chair of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, who began advocating against Amendment 3 early on<\/a>, as well as the Missouri NAACP, which announced its opposition last month.<\/p>\n

Both argue the amendment will create the \u201cpermanent exclusion\u201d of minorities from the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n

Yet on the same day as Jones\u2019s announcement, and on the other side of the state, Freedom Inc., a Black-led civil rights organization in Kansas City, announced its support of the amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day that goes by where cannabis is still illegal in Missouri, is a day when justice is not being served,\u201d said Rodney Bland, president of Freedom Inc.<\/p>\n

Freedom Inc. joins Action STL Power Project, the political-organizing engine that helped get Jones elected in April 2021, and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) in praising the proposal\u2019s measure to expunge marijuana charges from people\u2019s criminal records.<\/p>\n

And while the statewide NAACP opposes the amendment, the St. Louis city chapter has been among its most vocal proponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the world is changing and voters overwhelmingly believe marijuana should be legal, then clearing past convictions is a moral imperative,\u201d said John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri 2022.<\/p>\n

The licensing process<\/strong><\/h4>\n

At the\u00a0heart of the opponents\u2019 concern\u00a0with Amendment 3 are caps on licenses to grow, transport and sell marijuana that were imposed by state regulators after voters created Missouri\u2019s medical marijuana program in 2018.<\/p>\n

The state decided to only issue the\u00a0minimum number of licenses allowed for medical marijuana\u201460 cultivation licenses, 192 dispensary licenses and 86 manufacturing licenses. Since then, the state has issued around 20 additional licenses, including some which were ordered to be issued by the administrative hearing commission\u00a0due to irregularities in the application scoring process.<\/p>\n

Few licenses went to Black-owned businesses.<\/p>\n

Amendment 3 would allow the state to continue capping licenses while giving current medical marijuana license holders first dibs on the more lucrative recreational licenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis amendment, despite having positive elements, reads like it was designed to benefit current vendors and license holders\u2014not everyday people,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI recognize the problems and stratification created by the amendment\u2019s licensing system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I meant de-criminalization.<\/p>\n

Where Elon Musk with the edit button when you need it? LOL!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tishaura O. Jones (she\/her) (@tishaura) November 2, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Nimrod Chapel, Jr., president of the Missouri NAACP,\u00a0said after his organization announced its opposition to Amendment 3 that the proposal has the financial backing of many of the state\u2019s largest medical marijuana license holders who are trying to \u201ccarve out the entire market for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re certainly Caucasian run, led and owned,\u201d he said of the current medical marijuana license holders, \u201cand minority participation has been completely left out of the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amendment 3 supporters say the system\u2019s racial inequities would be addressed through the 144 \u201cmicro licenses,\u201d where applicants must be a resident from a ZIP code with high marijuana incarceration rates or meet other such requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I support it and pushed for the micro licenses piece,\u201d Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis City NAACP chapter, said\u00a0in an interview with The Independent last month, \u201cbecause the micro license dictates that it goes to people who have been disadvantaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, one of the biggest struggles for many smaller medical marijuana companies is obtaining capital. Marijuana is still illegal on a federal level, so bank loans are not an option, Pruitt said.<\/p>\n

Regarding the caps, Pruitt said it\u2019s the state Department of Health and Senior Services that is capping the licenses, not the amendment language itself.<\/p>\n

However, Chapel argues the companies funding the Amendment 3 campaign will lobby to keep the caps in place that have shut Black businesses out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the keep-rich-people-rich bill,\u201d Chapel said.<\/p>\n

In the month before Election Day, Legal Missouri has raised $1.3 million from businesses involved in the marijuana industry. It has reported spending more than $1.4 million, with most of that going towards media buys.<\/p>\n

Save Our State, the political action committee formed in September to oppose Amendment 3, has not reported raising any money.<\/p>\n

Expungement provision<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Amendment 3 also includes a\u00a0process for Missourians with nonviolent marijuana-related offenses to\u00a0automatically expunge their criminal records.<\/p>\n

It would set up a timeline for when courts have to expunge records depending on the class of offenses, where misdemeanor offenses would be adjudicated first. The courts would have one year to order the expungements of people who are not in jail or on parole or probation.<\/p>\n

The fees and tax revenues from the marijuana program would go towards paying for expungements, according to the petition.<\/p>\n

Supporters say the expungement measures are among the most far-reaching yet proposed in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe War on Drugs has been primarily waged against people of color, and it\u2019s time for the madness to end,\u201d said Garrett Griffin, spokesman for\u00a0Communities Creating Opportunities, in the joint statement with Freedom Inc. \u201cJust as no one should have been rotting in prison in the 1920s over alcohol, no Missourian or American should be punished for using marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

These #expungement<\/a> measures are among the most far-reaching to date in nationwide #cannabis<\/a> legalization measures, and represent a critical #criminaljusticereform<\/a> for our state. Funds from the cannabis sales tax revenue will cover the costs of the #automaticexpungement<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Legal Missouri 2022 (@LegalMo22) November 2, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Critics say expungement is key to marijuana legalization, but argue Amendment 3 doesn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n

Chapel pointed to a provision in the petition that states the funding for expungement is contingent on approval from the legislature and governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

And expungement, Chapel said, doesn\u2019t appear to be their priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just look back at how the medical marijuana licensing process has gone, and it is full of nothing but controversy,\u201d Chapel said. \u201cI don\u2019t have any expectation that the expungement program\u2014which the legislature and perhaps the governor are not fully behind\u2014would be run in any different or better way than the medical marijuana debacle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Payne said getting the legislature to make this appropriation doesn\u2019t concern him because the funds \u201ccan\u2019t be spent elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents also expressed frustration that Amendment 3 includes certain penalties for marijuana use that, because they will be included in the state constitution, will be difficult to fix.<\/p>\n

A change to the constitution must be approved by a statewide vote. Issues can be placed on the ballot either by the legislature or through the initiative petition process\u2014which Chapel noted can be an expensive and time-consuming process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to be a real spirit that this is good enough or this is going to be a good start,\u201d Chapel said of Amendment 3. \u201cBut this is our constitution. It\u2019s kind of a big deal, and I think that it\u2019s worth our time to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\n

Biden Says His Marijuana Pardons Have Improved Black Americans\u2019 Lives, But He Overstates Real-Life Impact<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post Missouri Black Leaders Divided Over Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Missouri Black Leaders Divided Over Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis amendment, despite having positive elements, reads like it was designed to benefit current vendors and license holders\u2014not everyday people.\u201d By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent In a move highlighting a growing divide among Black leaders and organizations in Missouri over a push to legalize marijuana, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura JonesContinue 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":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57781"}],"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=57781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57782,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57781\/revisions\/57782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}