Photogprahy courtesy of Torben Hansen, Wikimedia Commons
Uruguay is about 5,000 miles from Missouri. Yet if you believe the state’s advocates for legalizing marijuana, the South American country and the Show-Me State are drifting closer together on at least that one social issue.
Increasing support for legalization in Missouri may come as news to some people, says John Payne, executive director and treasurer of Show Me Cannabis. “It does surprise a lot of people, but in the last few years, we’ve seen really tremendous growth and support of legalization nationwide," he says. "Five or six years ago, the support was about 30 percent. Support has taken off because of demographic changes, with younger voters being very supportive—up to about 70 percent in favor.”
Washington and Colorado already voted to approve legalization of marijuana. Payne predicts Alaska and Oregon will follow in 2014. Legislative proposals are also pending in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. And earlier this year, the Illinois legislature passed a medical marijuana law that goes into effect January 1. It has been described as a “pilot program” in that it has a sunset provision in four years that requires the legislature to renew the law or make changes for it to continue. The new law also defines the illnesses that patients must have to qualify for a prescription.
Here in Missouri, Show Me Cannabis has submitted various wordings for ballot initiatives to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. The group submitted 10 versions of initiatives to the Secretary of State’s office is it wanted “to have the option of pursuing a variety of different models,” says Show Me Cannabis chairman Dan Viets. The submissions are fairly similar, though each version provides for different amounts of “personal cultivation,” as well as expunging former offenses and granting amnesty for prisoners doing time for “marijuana-only” offenses.
Whether the proposition to legalize marijuana in Missouri is put on a statewide ballot in 2014 or 2016, however, depends on upcoming polls. The last time that Show Me Cannabis did polling, in October 2012, about 50 percent of Missouri respondents favored legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana. When the question was followed by statements that were supportive or in opposition of legalization, the numbers rose to 54 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. “If one of these measures polls above 60 percent, then I’m fairly certain we’ll move forward with it in 2014,” Payne says. “If not, we’ll probably shelve that initiative and do a little tinkering with it and file it in 2016.”
“In the Gallup poll released in October of this year, 58 percent of American voters favored taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol," says Viets. "This is a 10 percent increase in only one year. No other social issue has seen such a rapid and dramatic increase in support in so short a time. There is no reason to doubt this support will continue to increase.”
In Missouri, the most lenient municipality for marijuana is Columbia, where Viets is a civil libertarian and criminal-defense lawyer. There, changes in the enforcement of marijuana laws have been in place for almost 10 years. “It has gone very well,” says Viets. “The Columbia police do not arrest; they give tickets for misdemeanor possession. The cases only go to municipal court, which is not a criminal court. And there is no possibility of jail under our ordinance, which was passed by more than 60 percent of voters in 2004.”
At the moment, much of the opposition to legalizing marijuana comes from upper levels of law enforcement, says Viets. Such opposition does not appear as organized, however, on a statewide level. Also, he adds, Missouri remains a bellwether state that reflects national trends on many issues, so Republicans' dominance in the state's legislature may be misleading.
Viets believes the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado signals the beginning of a trend that will spread to other states. “It’s no surprise if you watch what’s happening throughout the country," he says. "The tipping point came in October 2010, when—for the first time—more voters favored than opposed taxing and regulating cannabis like alcohol. It’s a matter of the majority of Americans realizing that marijuana prohibition is a total failure and creates more problems than it solves.”
Despite Uruguay's distance from Missouri, Payne believes that country's decision to legalize marijuana will play a role. “Uruguay has just taken this farther than anybody else,” he says. “There are a lot of other countries that may not do what Uruguay has done, but they are ready to reject the U.S. line on drug policy. If that starts to happen, that accelerates the process of changing the law at the federal level because they’re caught in between losing control at the state level and with other countries.
“It’s not going to change domestic policy at the state level a whole lot," he adds. "But as states within the U.S. start to reject the prohibition model for cannabis, it makes the U.S. look like a hypocrite on the international stage—we’re one of the biggest consumers of illicit drugs in the world, but we tell the rest of the world you have to prohibit these things.”
Show Me Cannabis' John Payne will debate Jason Grellner, president of the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association and a unit commander with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the the Ethical Society of St. Louis (9001 Clayton). FOX 2's Mandy Murphey will serve as the moderator.
