Our fall conference will be held next Saturday, November 15, at the Crowne Plaza at 200 N Fourth Street in downtown Saint Louis. The following agenda is not completely set in stone, but, unless we have some last minute speaker changes, this is the lineup you should expect:
- 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Registration and coffee
- 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Reports from NORML and SSDP chapter leaders across the state
- 9:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Show-Me Cannabis Board
- 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Drug Task Forces: Secretive, Unaccountable, and Dangerous with Show-Me Cannabis Director of Research Aaron Malin, Show-Me Cannabis board member Leah Maurer, and Travis Maurer.
- 10:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Coffee Break
- 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. The Racial Bias in the Enforcement of Cannabis Laws, featuring Missouri ACLU Executive Director Jeff Mittman, Missouri Association for Social Welfare Executive Director Jeanette Mott-Oxford, LeShea Agnew, and attorney Justin Meehan with Dan Viets as moderator.
- 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Lunch
- 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Perspective of Law Enforcement: Is biased enforcement deliberate? Featuring Saint Louis police sergeant Gary Wiegert, police chief Tony Kirk, and Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Neill Franklin
- 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. How Does Ferguson Impact Criminal Justice Reform? Washington Post writer Radley Balko, Saint Louis Magazine Publisher Ray Hartmann, WGNU radio host Kenneth Murdock
- 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. The Prospects for Legislative Reforms, with Rep. Brandon Ellington (D – Kansas City), Rep. Mike Colona (D – Saint Louis), Rep. Mike Butler (D – Saint Louis), and Rep.-Elect Shamed Dogan (R – Ballwin)
- 3:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Coffee Break
- 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Neill Franklin
- 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Radley Balko on Police Militarization and the War on Drugs
- 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Former ACLU Executive Director and President of the Board of Directors of the Drug Policy Alliance Ira Glasser
Join the Facebook event page and invite your friends!
And don’t forget about the events in Kansas City and Columbia leading up to the conference. On Wednesday, November 12, Ira Glasser, Neill Franklin, and Rep. Brandon Ellington will speak at a forum on race and the drug war at the Mary L. Kelly Center at 2803 E. 51st Street starting at 6:00 p.m.
After the forum, Show-Me Cannabis board members will host a fundraiser dinner with Glasser and Franklin at The Jacobson located at 2050 Central St. in Kansas City from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased on our website here.
Next, Glasser and Franklin will speak at a Lunch-and-Learn event at the UMKC law school student lounge on Thursday, November 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Also on Thursday, November 13, Franklin and Glasser will both speak at the University of Missouri in Columbia but at separate events. Franklin will speak about his experiences as a drug warrior at 4:30 p.m. in the Agriculture Building, Room 2-07. Later that evening at 7:00 p.m., Glasser will speak in Tate Hall. In between, we will host a meet-and-greet fundraiser at Bleu (811 E. Walnut Street in Columbia). Admission will be $10 for students and $25 for non-students.
Finally, we will hold a special pre-conference event on the ways a legal cannabis industry can benefit Missouri on Friday, November 14, at our shared office space at Nebula at 3407 S. Jefferson in Saint Louis starting at 6:00 p.m. Speakers will include Show-Me Cannabis board member Abhi Sivasailam, who now works in the industry in Oregon; Josh Kappel, a co-author of Colorado’s Amendment 64; and Brian Fox, who recently submitted an application for a dispensary license in Illinois.
After the discussion, please join us for drinks and appetizers at an intimate fundraiser at the offices of KAOH Media at 2210 Pestalozzi. There will be a suggested contribution of $100 at the fundraiser.
Finally, join us after the conference for a private dinner and auction at Frazer’s (1811 Pestalozzi) starting at 7:00 p.m. This will be a wonderful opportunity to dine and discuss with our speakers and the leaders of this movement from across Missouri and beyond. If you’d like to contribute an item to the fundraiser auction, please email me at [email protected]. There will be a $25 minimum contribution to attend the dinner, and guests can order from the menu. You can purchase tickets on our website here.
