It wasn’t that long ago that supporting marijuana reform was considered to be political suicide. Now that marijuana reform has gone mainstream, the opposite is often true. If an elected official publicly opposes marijuana from, they will likely face backlash from the public. This is true even in conservative states like Missouri, where a member of a city council (Ginny Chadwick) is facing a recall vote after she voted against reducing penalties for marijuana cultivation in her city. Per the Columbia Tribune:
The pro-marijuana crowd jumpstarted the effort, in large part because of Chadwick’s decision to vote against the cultivation bill and, pot legalization activist Eapen Thampy said, also because she lied to constituents. Soon after Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe introduced her bill that would have decriminalized the growth of up to six plants, Chadwick said at a candidate forum that she would support it. However, she ended up voting against it after the bill had been amended to reduce the number of plants to two. Chadwick said she hadn’t had time to fully consider the bill when she made her statement of support.
“We got it done, and it will send a signal to decision-makers in the city and around the state that you can disagree with us, but if you lie to us, we do have the political resources” to take action, Thampy said.
According to the city charter, now that Amin has verified enough signatures, the petition will be sent to the City Council, which meets Monday night, and it will “call an election on said recall at the next election provided for by state law.” The question on the ballot will simply ask voters to answer “yes” or “no” if Chadwick should be recalled.
I know from looking at traffic statistics that we actually get quite a few visitors from Columbia, Missouri. I encourage all of you to get active with this recall effort, and to urge others to do the same. Recalling Ginny Chadwick would send a message to all other elected officials that opposing sensible marijuana laws will not be tolerated anymore, and that we live in a new era. ‘Like’ the recall effort on Facebook and stay up to date on the effort.
