Another medical marijuana effort has emerged that has little to do with medicine and much to do with legalizing recreational pot smoking.
An Associated Press story in Thursday's News Tribune reported Jack Cardetti, a veteran of Missouri political campaigns, has been hired as a consultant for New Approach Missouri.
New Approach Missouri is the campaign committee created by Show-Me Cannabis, which characterized itself as "an association of organizations and individuals who believe that cannabis prohibition is a failed policy, and regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol would better control the production, distribution, and consumption of cannabis than the current criminal market system does."
New Approach Missouri had raised about $26,000 as of June to finance a possible 2016 ballot issue to approve the use of medical marijuana in Missouri.
This is not the first attempt. Previous efforts to legalize medical and recreational use of marijuana in Missouri failed in both 2012 and 2014 because of lack of signatures on petitions required to place measures before voters.
What is and has been conspicuously absent from these efforts is support from Missouri's medical community. We know of no associations of medical professionals in Missouri that have publicly endorsed the medical use of marijuana.
Show-Me Cannabis itself appears to have little interest in assisting medical patients. Under Medical Initiative on its website, the focus is on the petition effort; nothing was found regarding potential medical benefits.
Also under Medical Initiative, the true purpose of the advocacy group and its campaign arm is defined. It reads: "We exist to end cannabis prohibition."
We believe it would be a mistake to legalize another substance that results in impaired judgment among people who then engage in stupefied social behavior and dangerous driving.
In response to comparisons to alcohol consumption, isn't the abuse of and addiction to that substance bad enough? Why add to an obvious social problem?
We respectfully disagree with the goals of Show-Me Cannabis supporters. We would be more inclined to respect their strategy if they stopped using "medicine" as a smoke-screen and stepping stone.