Pubdate: Tue, 29 Oct 2013
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2013 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/qFJNhZNm
Website: http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418

MISSOURI REPUBLICANS SHOULD SEIZE POT LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT

When the history of the legalization of marijuana is written, October
2013 will go down as a key month.

Three moments this month, seemingly unrelated, might have hastened the
day when Colorado and Washington will be the norm, not the outliers,
in a country reliving the end of Prohibition for the second time.

This month, on his farm in southeastern Colorado's Baca County, Ryan
Loflin harvested a 55-acre hemp crop, believed to be the first legal
hemp crop harvested in the U.S. in more than five decades. When
Colorado voters legalized marijuana, it opened the door on cultivating
hemp crops, which were an agricultural staple in many states -
including Missouri - in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Then, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, he of the Republican pledge
to never raise taxes, waded into the marijuana debate, telling the
National Journal that any Republican who had signed his pledge
wouldn't be violating it by supporting the legalization, and eventual
taxation, of marijuana.

"That's not a tax increase. It's legalizing an activity and having the
traditional tax applied to it," Mr. Norquist told the Journal. It's a
specious argument, but an important one in a party that hangs on Mr.
Norquist's every word.

Then there's this. For the first time in the nation's history, a
Gallup poll showed last week that the majority of Americans support
legalization of marijuana.

Gallup has been polling the question since 1969. This month, 58
percent of Americans in the poll say the drug should be legalized,
including 62 percent of independent voters.

This is no minor chain of events.

Here in Missouri, our hope is that when the Missouri Legislature
reconvenes in January, it does something it should have done last
year: Have a serious conversation about whether the Show-Me State
should join Oregon and Colorado in legalizing marijuana.

Last year, Rep. Rory Ellinger, D-University City, filed legislation
that would have had the state follow the example already set in the
cities of Columbia and St. Louis by decriminalizing possession of
small amounts of marijuana. Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis, filed a
bill that would have legalized medicinal marijuana. And Sen. Jason
Holsman, D-Kansas City, filed a bill that would have legalized hemp
cultivation. Only Mr. Holsman's bill got a hearing. None of them got a
vote.

This was no surprise, given that the Legislature is controlled by
Republicans and those bills all were filed by urban Democrats. But
considering the libertarian roots of the pro-marijuana legalization
movement, and Missouri's own agricultural history with hemp
production, the Missouri GOP is missing an opportunity to own an issue
that, if Gallup's trends are to be believed, the nation's voters
already have decided. Plus, Grover Norquist won't punish them for it.

According to Gallup, more than 60 percent of voters between 18 and 49
support marijuana legalization. Even among those between the ages of
50 and 64, a majority of 56 percent back the end to pot
prohibition.

In Missouri, the lobbyist for the pro-pot-legalization group, Show-Me
Cannabis - St. Louis Police Sgt. Gary Wiegert - is also the lobbyist
for the St. Louis tea party. Among those with a libertarian streak,
there has long been as much support for relaxing marijuana laws as
there has been among Democrats, if not more so.

Imagine if Missouri positioned itself to repeat the post-Prohibition
years, with some 21st century version of the Busch family ready to
take advantage of the fertile soil in Missouri, poised to corner the
market on hemp production, be it used for legalized marijuana or its
many other uses, such as ethanol, plastics, clothing and other fiber
products. Imagine the research options at Monsanto.

You want a jobs debate in the Missouri Legislature? You want to talk
exports, agriculture and manufacturing? New sources of revenue?

That's not to say the answers on legalizing pot are all rosy. Gov.
John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat (and owner of a brew pub),
opposed his state's move to legalization, suggesting that it creates a
whole new set of problems. His criticism has merit. There will be
victims of drug legalization, much like with alcohol abuse. There are
legal and moral questions surrounding the legalization of any drug
that must be taken seriously. And the state-by-state effort creates
all sorts of conflicts with federal law that must be addressed.

It might be a pipe dream, so to speak, for Missouri to join Colorado
and Washington at the forefront of the marijuana legalization
movement. Social conservatives have too much sway in the state's
version of the Republican Party, despite their constant refrains of
"liberty" and "freedom." But what a fabulous debate that would be in a
state that could be better positioned than perhaps any other to turn
the marijuana legalization discussion into one focused on economic
development.

What do you say, Missouri Legislature.

Doesn't a proposal pushed by a tea party lobbyist at least deserve a
hearing or two?
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MAP posted-by: Matt