New Approach Missouri is trying to legalize medical marijuana this year. The medical marijuana initiative was approved for circulation today. From what I’m told by Missouri activists, the polling results for the initiative are really good, and there is strong funding from within the state. It’s tough to say how much national funding support there will be (hopefully a lot), but I really think that Missouri has a great shot of legalizing medical marijuana. It would be a huge victory for not only Missouri, but also the rest of the country. Below is an e-mail I received from the New Approach Missouri campaign about today’s approval:
Great news: we have received word from the Missouri Secretary of State’s office informing us that our initiative petition for medical cannabis has been approved for circulation! This means that we can legally begin collecting signatures, so we will have the petition into the hands of volunteers early within the next couple of weeks.
We will also begin disseminating to a number of businesses and other establishments that have agreed to serve as permanent signing locations. Look for another email within the next couple weeks with information about where you can find a signing location near you. And if you own an establishment with regular hours of operation and would like to host a petition at your storefront, please email [email protected], and we will send someone to train your staff as soon as possible.
I know Missourians possess tremendous enthusiasm for this initiative. Thousands of you will make a point of signing it, and hundreds will volunteer their time to gather even more signatures. But to collect nearly 160,000 valid signatures — which will require nearly a quarter million total signatures — and ensure that this vital measure makes the ballot, we must hire a professional signature gathering firm.
That firm will not only gather many of the signatures directly, but also coordinate volunteers and validate all signatures to ensure that they are from registered Missouri voters. To accomplish all that, it will cost around $800,000, and we have to make a substantial down payment to get started.
We need your help to make that possible, so please contribute what you can now for the signature gathering effort! With thousands of grassroots supporters in our network, even relatively modest contributions add up, so whether you can contribute $5 or $500 or anything in between, you can make a difference today.
If you have ever thought about contributing to this cause but not quite made the commitment, now is the time to turn that thought into action. This opportunity will not last long, as the next four months will determine our success or failure. And if we fail, it will be another four years before a similar opportunity presents itself.
Act now to help us win in 2016! Contribute $5, $10, $25, or $50 now, and then share this article with your friends and family. The path to victory is clear, but it will require a tremendous amount of work and resources over the next few months. I hope we can count on you to do everything you can to give Missouri’s patients a choice on medical cannabis.
