A group of Missouri hemp business leaders are organizing an initiative petition to allow marijuana and intoxicating hemp THC products to be sold in the same stores as alcohol and tobacco.
The goal of the effort, led by Kansas-City-based hemp business American Shaman and announced on an industry call Monday, is to repeal the 41-page constitutional amendment that legalized adult-use marijuana in 2022. It would replace it with language that instructs Missouri lawmakers to create regulations that are "no more burdensome than what we already have for alcohol and tobacco," industry lobbyist Eapen Thampy said on a call with about 30 business owners and cannabis activists Monday morning.
"Part of the idea here is to remove that regulatory mandate in the Missouri Constitution," he said. "We devolve regulatory authority back to the Missouri General Assembly, the elected representative of the people where it belongs."
The petition language hasn't been finalized yet, Thampy said, but it will ensure that cannabis remains legal until state lawmakers come up with laws regulating marijuana and intoxicating hemp products. It would take out criminal offenses for possessing too much marijuana but retain all the current taxes on the products.
Read more at Missouri Independent