Multiple marijuana issues make for confusing ballot

Missouri voters will have three opportunities to approve medical marijuana on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Voters can choose from two constitutional amendments and a statutory measure seeking to make Missouri the 31st state to allow medical marijuana.

Adding to the ballot confusion, proponents predict all three measures will pass, possibly putting the outcome in the hands of the Missouri Supreme Court.

The Missouri Police Chiefs Association and the Missouri State Medical Association have come out against the measures as have area lawmakers.

Amendment 2, backed by the New Approach Missouri coalition, would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients with specified medical conditions such as cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy and chronic pain. It also would allow limited cultivation of marijuana by individuals.

The measure would impose a 4 percent sales tax and some of that revenue would be earmarked for veterans� programs.

Amendment 3, backed by Springfield, Missouri, personal-injury attorney and physician Brad Bradshaw, would legalize medical marijuana and impose a 15 percent tax on the retail sale of marijuana and a tax on the wholesale of marijuana flowers and leaves per dry-weight ounce to licensed facilities.

Amendment 3 would use the tax revenue to create a state research institute to develop cures and treatments for cancer and other diseases.

Proposition C, or the Patient Care Act, would legalize medical marijuana and impose a 2 percent sale tax, the lowest tax of the three ballot measures.

The revenue would fund programs for veterans, drug treatment, early-childhood education and public safety.

Proposition C would task stage agencies, including the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, with regulating the medical marijuana program. The ballot initiative would authorize not less than one cannabis center, which would sell marijuana, per 100,000 state residents.

Jack Cardetti, a spokesman for the Amendment 2 campaign, said he�s confident voters will legalize the smoking of medical marijuana.

�The debate is not whether medical marijuana will pass in November, it is which one,� he said.

So what happens if all three proposals pass?

State law spells out if both constitutional amendments pass, the one with the highest vote total wins.

But it�s unclear what would happen if the statutory measure and one of the constitutional amendments passes.

Lobbyist Travis Brown, who is pushing Prop C, said the Missouri Supreme Court likely will decide the issue.

Brown suggested Amendment 2 and Prop C could �mutually coexist� and both taxes could be levied.

But Cardetti said a constitutional amendment would trump a statutory measure. If either amendment passes, �Prop C would be null and void,� he said.

Both Brown and Cardetti voiced concerns about Amendment 3, which they view as the least desirable option.

The Southeast Missourian reached out to Bradshaw, the backer of Amendment 3, in an email, but did not receive a response.

Cardetti said Amendment 2 is focused on patients while Amendment 3 is �focused on Brad Bradshaw.�

He called Amendment 2 and Prop C �reasonable proposals.�

But Amendment 3, according to New Approach Missouri, would �gouge patients� by imposing the highest medical marijuana tax in the nation, making the drug unaffordable.

Amendment 3 would establish Bradshaw as chairman of a new, quasi-state agency and �research institute� that would be unaccountable to taxpayers, according to backers of the competing constitutional amendment.

Brown said Amendment 3 would give �unprecedented state power to an individual� to take Missourians� land to build the research facility.

Missouri�s Catholic bishops also oppose Amendment 3, citing concerns the proposed institute could conduct research involving the destruction and use of embryonic stem cells or aborted fetal remains.

In contrast, Cardetti said Amendment 2 would be implemented with �clear rules and regulations� by the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services.

Amendment 2 is preferable to Prop C because lawmakers could not �overturn it or gut it,� Cardetti said.

But Brown said Prop C is a better measure because it would provide more flexibility in regulating medical marijuana.

Lawmakers would be able to amend the regulations as needed. Amending a constitutional provision would require another election, he said.

Prop C also would allow cities and counties to opt out of the law, Brown said.

In addition, Prop C is the only measure that would funnel some of the tax revenue to law enforcement, he said.

But Cape Girardeau police chief Wes Blair, vice president of the police chiefs association, and Jackson police chief James Humphreys said legalizing marijuana for medical use poses a problem for law enforcement.

Humphreys said police officers would be placed in a position of having to determine whether a person with marijuana is possessing it legally or illegally.

He said passage of any of the three ballot measures could make it difficult for officers to determine �probable cause� to obtain search warrants.

�We�ve told our children for years that we have a war on drugs,� the Jackson chief said. Legalizing medical marijuana would undercut that message, he said.

Blair said if voters approve medical marijuana, it will put Missouri in opposition to federal law.

�On the enforcement side, it will certainly make our jobs a lot more difficult,� he said.

Blair said �most of the physician groups� in the state also oppose the measures.

The Missouri State Medical Association or MSMA, which represents more than 4,000 member physicians, opposes legalizing medical marijuana.

In an online statement, the association said there are some patients who may receive limited relief from pain and nausea, but numerous studies have identified negative health effects from smoking marijuana.

�Until the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) reclassifies marijuana to allow extensive scientific research, MSMA remains concerned Missourians will be gambling with their health using an unregulated drug,� MSMA said.

Jeff Howell, MSMA general counsel and director of governmental relations, said, �I don�t think you can find a physician who would recommend something that is smoked.�

mbliss@semissourian.com

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