Columbia, MO: Columbia voters will decide Tuesday on a proposal (Proposition 1) to decriminalize the possession of up to 35 grams of marijuana for personal use, and limit the criminal prosecution of medicinal marijuana patients.
Proponents of the initiative, The Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education (CAPE) and Missouri NORML, maintain that its passage would benefit students, who under federal law risk losing their student aid if they have a pot conviction. Under the proposal, all minor marijuana infractions would be directed to municipal not state court, and would be punishable by a fine only. Patients qualified by their physician to use marijuana medicinally would face no penalty. Currently, first time possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor in Missouri, punishable by up to one year in jail.
According to a recent poll of 523 likely voters by the Center for Advanced Social Research at Missouri University, 45 percent of respondents favor the measure and 40 percent who oppose it. Fifteen percent are undecided.
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup praised the initiative effort. “While Proposition 1 does not trump state law, it would enact significant local legal protections for those who use marijuana for medicinal and personal purposes, and will allow hundreds of students who would otherwise lose their financial aid the ability to continue their higher education,” he said.
Text of the initiative reads as follows:
– THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE WOULD GRANT SERIOUSLY ILL CITIZENS THE RIGHT TO POSSESS UP TO 35 GRAMS OF MARIJUANA FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF A PHYSICIAN. THE ORDINANCE WOULD PREVENT POLICE FROM SENDING MOST CASES INVOLVING LESS THAN 35 GRAMS OF MARIJUANA TO ANY PROSECUTOR OTHER THAN THE CITY PROSECUTOR. THE CITY PROSECUTOR WOULD BE PREVENTED FROM REFERRING MARIJUANA CASES TO ANOTHER PROSECUTOR OR AGENCY. MUNICIPAL COURT CASES INVOLVING LESS THAN 35 GRAMS OF MARIJUANA WOULD BE PUNISHED ONLY BY FINES. THE MAXIMUM FINES WOULD BE $25 FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, $50 FOR A SECOND OFFENSE, $100 FOR A THIRD OFFENSE AND $500 FOR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSES.
Similar ordinances have been enacted in other cities and counties, including Mendocino County, California; Oakland, California; Boulder, Colorado; and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
For more information, please contact either Sarah Duff of The Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education at (573) 424-3551 or Dan Viets, Esq. of Missouri NORML at (573) 443-6866.