COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Activists are planning two initiative petitions next month that would ease restrictions on marijuana in Columbia and legalize the drug for medicinal use across Missouri.
The statewide initiative would amend the Missouri Constitution to allow patients to use small amounts of marijuana for medicinal needs. The Columbia petition drive would decriminalize the cultivation of six or fewer marijuana plants.
Supporters will begin collecting signatures in October in hopes of getting both issues on the November 2016 ballot, the Columbia Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/1QWh03r) reported. Petitioners need to collect about 158,000 signatures from registered voters to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot as a means of initiating legislation.
If the petition effort is successful, the Columbia City Council can vote to adopt the decriminalization proposal or send the measure to voters.
Activist groups such as Show-Me Cannabis, Missouri NORML, Mid-Missouri NORML, MU NORML and the Missouri Civil Liberties Association will lead both initiative efforts.
"Our committee is seeking for Missouri to become the 24th state that would allow physicians to recommend small amounts of marijuana to patients with serious illnesses for medical purposes," said Jack Cardetti, a spokesman for pro-medical marijuana group New Approach Missouri.
Efforts to legalize medical and recreational marijuana in Missouri failed in 2012 and 2014 because petitions seeking the change failed to get enough signatures.
Dan Viets, Show-Me Cannabis chairman and a local criminal defense attorney, said he believes the medical marijuana measure could now prompt a sufficient amount of votes, as well as approval from voters. He also said he believes the decriminalization measure will succeed in Columbia.