Missouri voters will decide in November whether to legalize recreational marijuana

Voters in Missouri will decide in November whether to legalize adult recreational marijuana use, paving the way for Missouri to potentially become the 20th state to legalize and tax the drug.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Tuesday said his office certified an initiative petition to place the issue on the Nov. 8 ballot. Ashcroft’s office certified more than 214,000 voter signatures across the state’s eight congressional districts — well above the required roughly 180,000 needed to make the ballot.

The ballot initiative would remove from the state constitution bans on marijuana sales, consumption and manufacturing for adults over the age of 21. The question builds on a 2018 constitutional amendment that legalized the use and sale of medical marijuana.

“Our statewide coalition of activists, business owners, medical marijuana patients and criminal justice reform advocates has worked tirelessly to reach this point, and deserves all the credit,” said John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri 2022, the most prominent group that pushed for the ballot question.

The ballot question would also allow Missourians who were previously charged with nonviolent marijuana offenses to have their records automatically expunged. Current law requires those convicted of marijuana offenses to file a petition with the courts.

The provision would not apply to violent offenders or people whose offenses involved distribution to a minor or driving under the influence of marijuana.

Payne said there are about 20,000 marijuana-related arrests each year and the vast majority are for simple possession.

“Those will just go away and that will be a very, very good thing,” he said.

If approved, legalizing recreational marijuana would cost the state roughly $5.5 million each year and bring in at least $40.8 million in revenue annually, according to state officials. It would cost local governments at least $35,000 each year and bring in at least $13.8 million in revenue annually.

But not every Missouri pro-marijuana legalization group is on board with the ballot initiative.

Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist and founder of Great State Strategies, which focuses on marijuana and criminal justice reform, said his group opposed the question because it would create some criminal penalties for marijuana use like citing people for smoking marijuana in unapproved public areas.

“We oppose this initiative because it would create constitutional criminal penalties for marijuana possession and use and furthermore excludes those with felony marijuana charges from automatic expungement or release from prison,” Thampy said in a statement. “Their licensing scheme is racist and offensive: instead of opening up the free market they create a second class, Jim Crow licensing structure that will be easily rigged by the major industry players.”

Tim Gilio, founder of the Missouri Marijuana Legalization Movement, said he fears that medical marijuana industry will have too much control over the recreational marketplace if the ballot question is approved. He said his group plans to campaign against the measure.

“I’m upset, to say the least,” he said.

Gilio also echoed Thampy’s concerns that the amendment would place some marijuana-related criminal provisions in the constitution — provisions that would be nearly impossible for the legislature to claw back.

“Here we are still putting people in jail over dime bags while these rich men are making millions of dollars under these dispensaries and grow facilities,” he said.

The recreational marijuana ballot initiative was led by architects of the successful 2018 campaign to legalize medical marijuana and is backed by much of the established medical marijuana industry.

Missouri voters approved medical cannabis by a two-thirds majority in 2018. The constitutional amendment allows marijuana use for medical purposes, with a certain number of plants that can be grown at home. It set a minimum — but no maximum — number of licenses for dispensaries, manufacturing plants and cultivation sites.

There are now over 200 medical marijuana dispensaries across the state of Missouri with about 200,000 patients, Payne said.

While the recreational marijuana petition garnered enough signatures to go on the ballot, a separate proposal that would change the state’s primary elections failed to qualify. The initiative, which would have allowed for ranked-choice voting, failed to receive enough signatures in all eight congressional districts.

Better Elections Missouri said the unsuccessful effort was intended to give Missourians more say in elections.

“We are disappointed, but remain committed to our core mission: giving voters better and more choices in elections, empowering them to hold politicians accountable when they lose their way, and ensuring integrity in elections,” Better Elections spokesperson Scott Charton said in a text message.

This is a developing story and will be updated.