Amendment 3 of Exactly What Amendment 3 Will and Will Not Do . We hope this helps provide some education about the Amendment before you head to the voting booth .
; It will end the great majority of the more than 20,000 arrests and prosecutions in our state each year .
; It will expunge hundreds of thousands of marijuana arrests and convictions from Missourians ’ records automatically , without any action by the defendants being required .
; It will be especially beneficial to Black Missourians , who are arrested at a rate of 2.6 times more than White Missourians , despite the fact that the two groups use marijuana at almost exactly the same rate . Marijuana prohibition exists because of racism . ; Amendment 3 will go a long way toward fixing the problems caused by marijuana prohibition . _ It is not the last word on marijuana law in Missouri . _ It is not perfect .
Everyone has his or her own idea of what the perfect marijuana law would be . If we allow “ perfect ” to be the “ enemy of the good ,” we will never see legalization in this state . Amendment 3 will be on the ballot only because an alliance of activists such as NORML and other reform organizations worked closely with the medical marijuana industry to gather the signatures needed . Several million dollars are required to pay petitioners to put an initiative like Amendment 3 on the ballot . If Amendment 3 fails , it is not likely there is anyone else who is going to donate that money to put another initiative on the ballot .
Some folks seem to think that the Missouri General Assembly will legalize marijuana for us . I have personally been going to the Missouri General Assembly for nearly 50 years , asking them to do exactly that . I have testified hundreds of times at legislative hearings .
There is almost no chance that the Missouri legislature will legalize marijuana for us . The legislative process is such that any controversial bill will very likely be amended extensively . It is very difficult to get legislation through the Missouri General Assembly . There is no realistic chance that any legalization bill will pass the Missouri legislature in the foreseeable future .
On the other hand , the legislature does routinely place proposed Constitutional amendments on the ballot . If there are serious problems with Amendment 3 , the Missouri legislature can certainly propose amendments to it by placing them before the voters at the next election . In fact , the Missouri legislature placed three proposed Constitutional amendments on this November ’ s ballot . It will be far easier to persuade the legislature to propose amendments to Amendment 3 after it passes than it would be to get the legislature to legalize on its own .
Amendment 3 contains many provisions that will benefit cannabis consumers . Many of those provisions are there because of the help
NORML and its Chapter leaders from around the state of Missouri who played a major role in writing of Amendment 3 .
In addition , to legalizing responsible adult use of marijuana , Amendment 3 :
; Will ban the use of “ No Knock ” search warrants in marijuana investigations .
; It will allow every adult in the state of Missouri to cultivate up to 18 marijuana plants .
; It will allow anyone to give ( may gift , not sell ) up to three ( 3 ) ounces to another adult .
; It will also improve the medical marijuana laws that Missourians passed in 2018 .
; It will provide job discrimination protection for medical marijuana patients , who will no longer be denied a job or face the threat of termination because of medical marijuana use .
; It will also extend medical marijuana cards from only one year to three years , eliminating the need for an annual visit to the doctor and going through the bureaucracy of renewing a medical marijuana card each year .
; It will also double the number of patients for whom one may be a caregiver , one who provides cannabis and can be paid for his or her work and overhead .
; It will provide family court protections to all Missourians , ensuring that those who use marijuana responsibly will not suffer discrimination in child custody and child support disputes in our state ’ s courts .
; It will also mandate the issuing of at least 144 new marijuana business licenses . These licenses will be issued to people who have low income , who have been arrested or had a close family member arrested for marijuana , who live in areas where marijuana prohibition has been especially destructive and / or who live in unaccredited school districts .
; There is no cap on the number of medical marijuana business licenses the state may issue under our existing medical marijuana law .
; It will not place caps on the number of non-medical marijuana business licenses the state may issue . The Governor , the legislature , or the Department of Health and Senior Services can issue additional licenses at any time . The Missouri House has voted to do so , three times already .
The people have spoken !
Dan Viets , J . D . is an attorney in Columbia , MO . He is the Secretary of the National Board of Directors of NORML . He can be reached at
DanViets @ gmail . com or , visit www . DanViets . com .
Notice : This publication provides general information only and should not be construed as formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer / client relationship . Always consult your attorney for any legal advice .