One of three medical marijuana legalization initiatives on the Missouri ballot passed Election Day Nov. 6, 2018, while two other competing initiatives have failed.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the initiative, Amendment 2, was approved 66 percent to 34 percent.
The fight to legalize in Missouri was complicated in 2018 after three initiatives qualified for the ballot: one proposed statutory change and two constitutional amendments.
Amendment 2, backed by New Approach Missouri, was favored by national advocacy groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The measure allows physicians to recommend medical cannabis for any condition they see fit.
“Thanks to the unflagging efforts of patients and advocates, Missourians who could benefit from medical marijuana will soon be able to use it without fear of being treated like criminals,” Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement to Marijuana Moment. “We hope lawmakers will implement the measure efficiently and effectively to ensure qualified patients can gain access to their medicine as soon as possible.”
Under the measure, patients and registered caregivers would be allowed to grow up to six plants and purchase up to four ounces, or 113.4 grams, of marijuana from a dispensary per month. Sales would be taxed at 4 percent.
The other measures on the ballot also generally would have provided protections for cannabis patients and establish legal systems for patients to obtain marijuana from dispensaries. But there were significant differences when it came to taxation for each measure.
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