Show-Me Cannabis, our partners in marijuana law reform in Missouri, are in the midst of their Reform in the River City Money Bomb to raise funds supporting a decriminalization measure in St. Louis modeled after the successful decriminalization measures passed in 2004 in Columbia. Like the Columbia measure, the St. Louis measure will not only treat personal possession of marijuana as a civil infraction (like a speeding ticket), but will also exempt patients with a doctor’s recommendation for medical use.
Local cannabis law reform measures are an effective way to quickly improve the lives of thousands of citizens while also laying the foundation for broader, statewide reform. Further, these measures protect the educational and employment opportunities of cannabis users while prioritizing limited law enforcement resources for serious and violent crime, and saving taxpayer dollars. Passing common sense reform in St. Louis will increase the likelihood that a similar measure gets passed in Kansas City and may help the Springfield City Council to come to their senses after depriving Springfield residents the opportunity to vote on decriminalization. As local reforms spread across Missouri, a statewide legalization measure becomes more likely and a statewide legalization measure in the Heartland will have a positive ripple effect across the country.
Colorado and Washington have moved the marijuana legalization debate dramatically in our country and both of those successful legalization measures were aided by earlier local reforms that helped create the campaign infrastructure and the political momentum that made 2012 such a historic election for marijuana law reform. Please consider helping Show-Me Cannabis make similar strides towards cannabis law reform in Middle America as successful reform in the Midwest will help move our cause forward from coast to coast.
Below is the Reform in the River City Money Bomb email from Show-Me Cannabis. You can show your solidarity with these hard-working cannabis law reform activists by making a contribution. Whatever you can afford will help the cause and every donation of $50 or more will garner the generous donor a fantastic Show-Me Cannabis T-shirt.
Support Reform in St. Louis!
Dear Cannabis Law Reform Supporter,
As you are probably aware, the city of Saint Louis is on the verge of passing major reforms to its cannabis laws. On January 11th, Saint Louis Alderman Shane Cohn introduced a bill that would likely transfer over 200 cases of possession of marijuana annually to municipal court from the state court, making the offense more like a traffic ticket than a criminal charge. It would also protect patients who use marijuana under a doctor’s recommendation from any kind of prosecution from the city law enforcement. Although the meetings and conversations that started Shane on the path to introducing this legislation began before Show-Me Cannabis was formed, he credits the 2012 statewide campaign to legalize and regulate cannabis as part of the inspiration for his proposal.Furthermore, after last week’s Health and Human Services Committee hearing on the bill, Shane said that he would introduce an even more robust substitute bill, modeled, as we recommended, more along the lines of Columbia’s 2004 reforms. We are in an excellent position to promote this proposal with this strategy:
- Organizing a pro-reform presence at every hearing on the bill. We turned out over a dozen people at the last hearing, which is an extremely large number for a meeting in the middle of the workday.
- Identifying undecided aldermen and calling the residents of their wards and encouraging the constituents who support the proposal to contact their aldermen about the issue.
- Following up with people who contact their aldermen with a mailing and a phone call asking them to join our cause. This will allow us to organize face-to-face meetings with any aldermen that still remain undecided and build our base of supporters to lobby for further reforms at both the local and state level.
You have an exciting opportunity to support this effort today during our Reform in the River City Money Bomb! We believe that if we raise $2,000 we can organize a supportive presence at every hearing and contact around 25,000 Saint Louis households about this vital reform. We believe that this measure is very likely to pass, but we need to make sure all undecided aldermen know exactly how their constituents feel about the issue.
Please help us show Saint Louis’ aldermen, the general public, and the entire state of Missouri that cannabis law reform is popular by investing with Show-Me Cannabis today!
As an added bonus, if you contribute $50 or more, we will ship you a Show-Me Cannabis Regulation shirt with the logo on the right front breast and the slogan “Legalize Freedom” on the back! Please indicate your shirt size on the contribution form, and if your shipping address is different from your billing address email me the correct address at [email protected].
Finally, even if you are unable to contribute to this campaign, I encourage you to go to our signup page and update your information. Many people who originally signed up for the newsletter when we were still using Constant Contact’s email service were only able to give us their email address, but our new platform allows to consolidate all your contact information into one database, making it easier for us to keep you informed about the latest in cannabis law reform in Missouri!
Article originally appeared on National Cannabis Coalition and republished with special permission
