Marijuana Amendment 3: Wrong Turn For Missouri

In the histories of great states there are crucial crossroads. In Missouri, Amendment 3 is a wrong turn down the wrong road at the wrong time. This measure vastly expanding Missouri's marijuana monopoly goes too far.

In 2018, Missourians approved medical marijuana, which was sold to us with safeguards and protections. Many Missourians who do not use marijuana are tolerant of its regulated availability for medical use and to relieve suffering. That is not the same as supporting expanding marijuana everywhere while weakening public health and safety and locking a marijuana insiders monopoly into our Missouri Constitution.

Fortunately, Missourians are reading the fine print of Amendment 3. As a result, this flawed proposal is drawing opposition from across the political spectrum. The Missouri Republican Party opposes Amendment 3. The Missouri Democratic Party says it has lots of questions and voted to stay neutral. Missouri Libertarians, historically supportive of drug legalization, rejected endorsing this badly written mess.

Warning of risks to public health from Amendment 3, a "NO" vote is also urged by the Missouri Hospital Association and the Missouri State Medical Association. Coincidentally, this is national Red Ribbon Week, designated so all of us may reflect on the dangers of drug abuse. The Missouri Poison Control Center is warning of the dangers to kids who may mistake edible marijuana for candy. Pushing statewide legalization of marijuana in all of its forms tempting to kids (and pets) is just tone-deaf.

Some say: "So what, we get to legalize pot!" Legalization supporters be cautioned: Amendment 3 actually puts pot penalties into the Constitution.

My copy of Missouri's Constitution is 222 pages. Marijuana could be legalized in a few brief paragraphs, but Amendment 3 adds murky, legally dangerous clutter. Such casual expediency about achieving legalization ignores serious issues that will be around forever, embedded in constitutional concrete.

Here are just a few examples:

• Vague language: Amendment 3 has no definitions of "Smoking" and "Under The Influence." Amendment 3 supposedly sets a $100 fine, but it doesn't say who can impose, enforce and collect the fine. The Missouri Prosecuting Attorneys Association opposes Amendment 3, calling it "39 pages of mischief."
• Undermining local control: Amendment 3 makes communities wait up to four years to have local elections to prohibit marijuana businesses. Local officials elected by their communities are made powerless by Amendment 3. But Amendment 3 forces communities to spend local tax money to purge criminal records in municipal courts. It's a constitutional carveout from the Hancock Amendment's protective ban on unfunded State mandates on local communities. There are so many bad impacts of Amendment 3 statewide, Missouri Farm Bureau is urging a "NO vote.
• Once again, outsiders are left outside, as already happened with monopoly winners of medical marijuana licensing. Amendment 3 purports to create small business licenses for disadvantaged people. But it sets them up to fail by limiting their businesses, providing no funding for startups, training and security. Amendent 3's lack of equity has earned it opposition from the Missouri State NAACP.

Supporters of Amendment 3 acknowledge it has problems. "There are a lot of issues with Amendment 3," Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted. "It's not perfect," said St. Louis City NAACP leader Adolphus Pruitt. Mallory Rusch, executive director of Amendment 3-backing Empower Missouri, admitted in an essay: "Is it perfect? No. Are there things we would change if we could wave a magic wand? Yes."

Imagine willingly pushing vague, flawed language into the Constitution and shrugging about it. That's just not right.

But Amendment 3's marijuana monopoly backers have been planning this for years. They know precisely the benefits they built in for the cannabis cartel. They care nothing about regulation, only vast expansion with less oversight and far less transparency. They know locking their advantages into the Constitution means it's forever.

Their monopoly payday will be astronomical for their investment in misleading Missouri voters. The Missouri State Auditor conservatively estimates marijuana sales will be at least $650 Million in the first two years of monopoly licenses. That doesn't include sales to people traveling into Missouri, which will help make it a billion-dollar business.

Is this the Missouri we want for our families and to advance our state?

A growing and diverse coalition of Missourians urge you to vote "NO" on marijuana monopoly Amendment 3. It just goes too far.

Learn more about this dangerous proposal at www.NoAmendment3.com

Scott Dieckhaus is the executive director of Save Our State.