Marijuana scored big on Election Day. Measures to legalize recreational marijuana passed in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Maine. Four other states approved measures to legalize medical marijuana. That means that in 2017, Washington D.C. and 28 states will allow either medical or recreational marijuana.
Missouri is not one of those states.
"It's a community safety issue," says Amy Fite, prosecuting attorney at the Christian County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and a member of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (MAPA). The group opposed a ballot measure proposed this fall that would have expanded the range of conditions that medical marijuana would be allowed to treat in Missouri. Fite cited several statistics that she says demonstrates the negative effect that marijuana legalization can have on a community. She mentioned a 2015 report created by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Investigative Support Center, which states that the number of marijuana-related traffic deaths in Colorado increased 92% from 2010–2014. The state legalized medical marijuana in 2009 and recreational marijuana in 2012.
The Missouri measure missed the November 8 ballot because of a technicality: In August, Secretary of State Jason Kander invalidated more than 10,000 petition signatures for various reasons. (For example, about 500 were thrown out because they were collected using the wrong county form.) New Approach Missouri, the nonprofit organizing the effort, took the case to the Cole County Circuit Court and argued that many of the signatures should never have been thrown out. The judge agreed to accept 2,219 invalidated signatures, but that still left the initiative 23 signatures short of what it needed to make it on the ballot. If the measure had made it on the ballot and passed, an estimated 150,000 Missourians with medical conditions would have qualified for the drug.
"It was heartbreakingly close," says John Payne, campaign manager for New Approach Missouri. But the pro-marijuana group is hopeful and plans to start collecting signatures early next year to get a similar measure on the midterm election ballot in 2018.
Missouri currently allows for limited production of non-psychoactive cannabidiol oil extracted from hemp plants, but it can only be used to treat patients with intractable epilepsy who have not already benefited from other treatments.
Two companies in Missouri have earned a state license to produce cannabidiol oil, but the state's restrictions make it hard for the companies to attract new patients. According to the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 drug—grouped in the same category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. (Cocaine and meth are considered less restrictive and classified as Schedule II.) Because of this, many major hospital groups restrict doctors from recommending it to patients, even if the patient can legally take it according to Missouri's law.
Photo by Steph Zimmerman
BeLeaf, located in Earth City, MO, produces non-psychoactive cannabidiol oil extracted from hemp plants for patients with intractable epilepsy.
BeLeaf, a medical-marijuana producer based in Earth City, was started by a former Anheuser-Busch marketing executive and a marijuana dispensary owner previously based in Colorado. The company currently has a couple dozen patients, but it's struggling to gain more.
"If you don’t have enough patients to cover your fixed costs, you can’t do it forever," says BeLeaf CEO Mitch Meyers.
In 2009, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would not prosecute those using marijuana for medicinal purposes. In 2014, Congress passed a law that prevented the federal government from interfering in how states manage their medical-marijuana programs. It's how states like Colorado have the ability to legalize recreational marijuana without threat of federal prosecution.
But MAPA takes the federal law seriously. "Whether the government chooses to, whatever choices they have made with regards to the enforcement of the law, it is illegal," says Fite. "It is illegal at the federal level—it’s illegal." MAPA supports letting the FDA, rather than federal or state legislatures, decide whether or not marijuana has medicinal value. "Let’s not try and legislate medicine," she says.
Research on medical marijuana is underway, and in a 2016 statement to VICE News, FDA spokesperson Michael Felberbaum said the FDA has “an interest in developing therapies from marijuana.” But even after the DEA made it easier for researchers to grow the drug, some scientists still have difficulty accessing marijuana for their studies because of its Schedule 1 classification.
Regardless of whether medical marijuana is legal in Missouri, Meyers says patients who can be helped by it will find a way to get their hands on it. “They are all dealing black market or going out of state," she says. "They are not going to let the government stand in their way for something they believe can help them. I’m watching people break the law, and it breaks my heart.”
BeLeaf's first patient was a young boy. Before taking the oil, he was experiencing about 50 seizures a day and taking five prescription medications. After a couple months on the oil, his therapist noticed an increase in his muscle tone and vocabulary. He eventually went two months without a single seizure.
Previous efforts to expand the ability of patients to access medical marijuana have failed in the Missouri legislature. House Bill 2213, which was proposed on the House of Representatives floor last year, would have allowed terminally ill patients to access marijuana for therapeutic purposes. The House gave first-round approval to the bill, but 25 representatives later rescinded their support and the bill never reached the Senate. "The odds that [the Missouri legislature] would pass anything are very low," says Payne, "and even if they did pass something, it would be subpar."
For now, pro-marijuana groups are focusing their efforts on passing ballot measures, which gives voters the ability to make the call. According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of U.S. adults say the use of marijuana should be made legal, while 37 percent say it should be illegal. Payne is confident that even in a non-presidential election year (which typically yields lower voter turnout), a measure could still succeed.
