St. Louis mayor opposes Missouri marijuana legalization amendment

The mayor of St. Louis said she opposes Missouri’s Amendment 3, which would legalize adult-use marijuana, signaling a deeper divide on the issue among Black officials and organizers in the state.

“If we choose the path of a constitutional amendment to resolve the matter of legalization, it would have to be forward-thinking, flexible and most of all, equitable,” St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said in a statement published by the Missouri Independent.

“This amendment fails to meet that lofty aim. Simply put, legalization does not equal decriminalization.”

The mayor’s stance comes on the heels of the Missouri NAACP urging voters to reject the constitutional amendment, saying it would bar minorities from entering the cannabis industry.

Among other things, the state NAACP argued that the ballot measure “does not increase the number of available full market licenses.”

However, NAACP chapters in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County have thrown their support behind the amendment.

Meanwhile, in a slide show posted to Instagram, rapper and marijuana entrepreneur Snoop Dogg urged Missourians and voters in four other states to approve marijuana legalization measures on their Nov. 8 ballots.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/st-louis-mayor-opposes-missouri-marijuana-legalization-amendment/