Update: This story has been updated to include a comment from Missouri Governor Mike Parson.
On Tuesday’s midterm ballot, Missouri voters were given three medical marijuana proposals to choose from. As of publishing time, though official results weren't in, Amendment 2 looked to be the clear winner, garnering 1,451,242 votes, or 65 percent. As St. Louis Magazine previously reported, Amendment 2—sponsored by New Approach Missouri—will see a 4 percent sales tax on the retail sale of medical marijuana, with revenue benefiting veterans’ health care. It allows for the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, debilitating psychiatric disorders, and terminal illness.
The other amendment, 3—sponsored by Springfield lawyer and doctor Brad Bradshaw—would have called for a 15 percent flat tax on medical marijuana to go toward a new biomedical research and drug development institute. Proposition C, which called for a 2 percent sales tax on medical marijuana, would have benefited veterans’ services, public safety, and education.
Now that the midterm is over, what's next for medical marijuana in Missouri—and could there be roadblocks ahead?
Take Arkansas, for example. The Natural State’s voters legalized medical marijuana in November 2016. As recently as July 2018, NPR reported, the state was experiencing implementation problems, with some officials who opposed medical marijuana slowing down the process.
“In some states, there’s been a lot of foot-dragging,” says Dan Viets. Viets is a Columbia, Missouri, attorney who has for years worked with NORML, a nonprofit that wants to see the legalization of weed—medical and recreational—in the United States. Full disclosure: Viets is on the board of directors for New Approach Missouri.
But Viets isn’t worried. "We have the advantage in Missouri—we may be late to the game here—but it does give us the advantage of seeing what happened in other states," he says. He built out deadlines in the amendment to ensure lawmakers have enough time to act in good faith to implement the licensing and approvals process. Another difference between Missouri and states where implementation has been slow? Although there are some Missouri lawmakers in the legislature who are against medical marijuana, Viets says he believes Governor Mike Parson isn’t going to torpedo the progress. Under Amendment 2, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will oversee licensing. The Missouri governor is the head of the executive branch. It's true that Parson, a former sheriff, has said that he doesn’t support recreational use of marijuana, but that medical is different. “The medical marijuana, I don’t have much problem with that,” he said last year, as reported by The Columbia Daily Tribune.
In a statement to St. Louis Magazine, Parson said: "The people of Missouri have voted to adopt Constitutional Amendment 2, approving medical marijuana. As governor, it is my job to ensure successful implementation of the people’s will. We will begin the very detailed process of implementing a process that makes medical marijuana available to qualified patients."
Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist who works for Better Way Missouri, said that “there's always backlash after a ballot initiative passes,” and echoes Parson’s role in how smoothly—or not—the licenses will start to roll out. “The governor has some decisions to make,” he says. He feels confident that the stigma of marijuana use as a medical treatment is lessening, however. And further, appealing to the agricultural and economic benefits: “Farmers can't make money selling soybeans anymore.” (Parson is a third-generation farmer.)
If all goes smoothly, the effective date of Amendment 2 is 30 days from the election. As long as there's no slowdown, within 180 days of December 6, the amendment says, the department must make the license application forms and instructions—such as for cultivation facilities, dispensaries, and infused-product manufacturers—available to the public.
In 240 days, the department has to begin accepting licensing and certification applications, and 150 days after those are submitted, they must approve or reject the applications.
