Missouri voters passed a closely-watched legalization measure that will make the state a major cannabis player in the midwest.
Adult use cannabis legalization was on the ballot, as Cannabis Wire reported, in Arkansas, Maryland, North Dakota, and South Dakota, too. Missouri voters joined those in Maryland, bringing the total number of states with legal adult use to 21 (plus D.C.).
The campaigns in all of these states, with the exception of Maryland, were run by advocates or industry stakeholders. In Maryland, lawmakers moved to put the question of legalization before voters. Of the $20 million that these four cannabis campaigns raised, almost all of it went to Arkansas and Missouri, and a majority of it from cannabis companies that would explicitly benefit, as Cannabis Wire reported.
Before Election Day, voters or lawmakers in 19 states and Washington D.C. had legalized cannabis for adult use. (Also, ten years ago this month voters in Colorado and Washington made their states the first jurisdictions in the world to legalize cannabis for adult use. Read Cannabis Wire’s anniversary series on lessons learned.)
As Cannabis Wire recently reported, the ballot measure, Amendment 3, legalizes cannabis for adults age 21 and older and leaves regulation to the Department of Health and Senior Services. The measure allows for home cultivation, but requires an individual to get a registration card. It allows for automatic expungement of some cannabis offenses. It puts tax revenue toward veteran causes, drug treatment, and public defenders. On equity, it reserves microbusiness licenses for entities that are majority owned by individuals who meet certain criteria, such as being a disabled vet, having a cannabis charge, having a low income and a low net worth, and so on.
Existing medical cannabis businesses will be able to convert to adult use. In this way, the Missouri measure favors existing operators.
Interestingly, the language of the measure anticipates federal legalization and sets ground rules for interstate commerce. It says, for example, that “any marijuana or marijuana-infused products imported into this state shall be subject to the same testing standards and seed to sale tracking system” that the amendment itself requires, and that “unless federal law, rules, or regulations explicitly require otherwise, no entity shall sell, transport, produce, distribute, delivery, or cultivate marijuana or marijuana-infused products without an applicable license or certificate as required” by the amendment.
The Legal Missouri 2022 campaign was led by John Payne, who also led the ballot campaign to legalize cannabis for medical use in 2018, and now runs a consulting firm called Amendment 2 Consultants.
In Missouri, Legal Missouri 2022 led the adult use push. As of the end of October, as Cannabis Wire reported, the campaign raised $6,977,729. Like Arkansas, a majority of this came from existing operators.
The opposition was led by Save Our State, which raised nothing.
The measures in Missouri and Arkansas proved divisive among supporters of legalization, some of whom criticized the measures for privileging existing cannabis operators, for example, or for lacking in equity provisions.
Good Day Farm was a top campaign contributor in both Arkansas and Missouri, and, as Cannabis Wire recently reported, has also begun to lobby Congress on cannabis issues.
