Missourians will vote on recreational marijuana soon. Will politicians overrule them?

This week, Missourians learned a constitutional amendment that would legalize the use of recreational marijuana for anyone over 21 will appear on a statewide ballot later this fall. Almost immediately, and on cue, opponents of the proposed referendum went on the offensive, including at least one GOP lawmaker.

“All we’re doing is creating new criminal penalties for marijuana,” state Rep. Ron Hicks, a Republican from Defiance, told the NPR affiliate in St. Louis, adding that the amendment would lead to a monopoly in the marijuana industry.

Before we make hasty judgments, let’s give the public a chance to dig a little deeper into the 38-page initiative. Given their chance to seriously deal with this question, the state’s lawmakers have punted time and again.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced Tuesday that the petition by Legal Missouri 22 to legalize recreational pot had gained enough signatures for a statewide vote. The measure, which would legalize recreational pot use for adults ages 21 and older, will appear as Amendment 3 on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The initiative includes measures that could do a lot of good, primarily by ending the wasteful prosecution of minor possession offenses. Those already convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses could get their record expunged. And anyone of legal age could buy and grow the drug with certain restrictions.

We’re all for giving the public the opportunity to deal directly with this issue — something that the legislature wouldn’t do.

In the last legislative session, Hicks’ pro-marijuana legislation stalled at the state Capitol, where a Republican-majority lawmakers have routinely refused to approve recreational marijuana use.

Hicks wants another crack at the legislative route, telling the radio station: “If we’re going to legalize this, let’s legalize it through the legislature where there’s a framework and everybody’s involved in it, not large corporations from out of state and not the largest lobbyists in our state.”

That’s on brand. GOP lawmakers such as Hicks are fond of telling Missourians what’s best for them. Republicans foolishly fought a voter-approved referendum on Medicaid expansion all the way to the state Supreme Court and lost. Voters must decide the merits of the recreational cannabis proposal, not politicians and judges, who have resisted the trends followed by many other states.

We haven’t weighed in on full legalization of adult-use cannabis. For now, we reserve judgment on the issue until later in the fall, when we will vet the pros and cons of this petition thoroughly.

We can see, though, that positives in the initiative include new state revenues and judicial reforms. Missouri would collect tens of millions of dollars per year from state taxes on retail marijuana sales, according to budget estimates.

Voters should look closely at how the initiative would put a cap on business licenses, and view skeptically the influence of deep-pocketed, out-of-state marijuana businesses.

But Missouri legislators opposed to the measure should stand down. If voters disapprove of the amendment, then by all means, go forth with a comprehensive plan that protects the state’s interests but meets the needs of business owners and consumers.

Based on shifting views in recent years to decriminalize cannabis, we’ve pushed for a statewide vote on recreational pot. In 2018, Missourians overwhelmingly approved legalizing medical marijuana, becoming the 33rd state to do so. Five other states have since, in some form, approved the use of pot for medical reasons. Last November, a Gallup poll showed 68% of Americans support the full legalization of cannabis.

Commercialization of the cannabis industry is a slippery slope, as those in the drug abuse and prevention field rightfully contend. But recreational pot is legal in 19 other states, including Illinois and Colorado.

Now it’s Missouri’s turn to weigh in on marijuana legalization — without the meddling of lawmakers.