St. Louis Mayor Signs Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana Possession And Cultivation

The mayor of St. Louis on Monday signed a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession and cultivation for adults, a local reform that comes as efforts to legalize cannabis statewide in Missouri are also gaining momentum.

The St. Louis ordinance signing comes weeks after the Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the legislation, which makes it so adults 21 and older can possess up to two ounces of cannabis without facing the civil penalty that’s currently in place.

It would also make it so that “no resources” could be spent to punish adults for cultivating up to six flowering plants. Importantly, the measure only affects local policy and does not change Missouri state laws that continue to criminalize marijuana for non-medical use.

“We are seeing a major shift in the way our country sees not just marijuana, but how it connects to public safety, incarceration, and economic opportunity in our communities,” Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) said at a signing ceremony. “This law will help reduce racial disparities in our policing, make our city safer and make St. Louis more competitive in hiring for city positions.”

The newly enacted policy will further permit city employees who are medical cannabis patients to present their state-issued ID cards “to avoid adverse employer actions based on a positive drug test for marijuana.”

Police will also be prevented from using the smell or visual presence of marijuana smoke as a basis to conduct a search or arrest someone.

Alderman Bret Narayan (D), sponsor of the legislation, said that it’s “rare that we see so many people from so many different backgrounds unite around a single cause, which is exactly what we have done here.”

“This law represents the clear will of the people of St. Louis,” he said. “It will allow for our law enforcement officials to use their resources on the most pressing issues in our region, help with labor shortages in our City departments and will also help prevent our injured first responders from falling into the pitfalls of opiate addiction.”

Throwing people in jail for low-level marijuana offenses does NOT make our city safer. I am proud to sign BB132 with #STLBOA sponsors to:

✅ Repeal outdated marijuana laws ✅ Make our city more competitive in hiring ✅ Help eliminate racial disparities in our justice system pic.twitter.com/QSh1vWtVxV

— Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) December 13, 2021

Supporters say the the legislation is meant to build upon the city’s earlier 2018 reform move, when lawmakers made it so the penalty for possession would be a $25 fine. The new law repeals local statute allowing for a penalty altogether.

Activities that will remain criminalized include providing marijuana to underage people, possessing excess cannabis and selling marijuana at a property that prohibits it.

—Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,300 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

Missouri voters approved a medical cannabis ballot measure in 2018.

The bill signing in St. Louis comes one year after the Kansas City, Missouri City Council voted to approve an ordinance ending all penalties for marijuana possession under the municipality’s local laws.

In that city, Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) and four local lawmakers filed the cannabis measure, which similarly repeals a provision of the Code of Ordinances stipulating that possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana carries a $25 fine and more than 35 grams is punishable by a $500 fine.

In September, the City Council also approved a measure making it so most government workers in Kansas City will no longer face pre-employment drug tests for cannabis.

Meanwhile, at least two activists groups in the state are aiming to place the question of adult-use marijuana legalization before voters in 2022. One campaign officially launched signature gathering last week.

Separately, a Republican state lawmaker is again making a push to place marijuana legalization on the ballot. Rep. Shamed Dogan (R) pre-filed his joint resolution last week to place a constitutional amendment on legalization on the 2022 ballot. He introduced a similar proposal last year, but it did not advance.

Also last week, a Missouri lawmaker pre-filed a bill to make it so police could no longer use the odor of marijuana alone as justification to conduct searches of a person’s home, vehicle or other private property.

Malta Set To Become First Country In Europe To Legalize Marijuana This Week

Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.

St. Louis Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Bill To Decriminalize Marijuana Possession And Cultivation

St. Louis lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession and cultivation for adults.

The Board of Aldermen voted 23-0 on final passage of the cannabis measure, days after giving it preliminary approval.

The proposal from Alderman Bret Narayan (D) wouldn’t change Missouri state laws that continue to criminalize marijuana, but local ordinances penalizing low-level possession and cultivation would be repealed.

“This bill basically just harmonizes our local ordinance with the state’s constitution, as well as further decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana,” Narayan said ahead of the vote on Tuesday. “It has the buy-in from the public safety director, it has the buy-in from the director of personnel. We’ve talked to basically every stakeholder along the way.”

Adults 21 and older could possess up to two ounces of marijuana without facing the civil penalty that’s currently in place. It would also make it so that “no resources” could be spent to punish adults for cultivating up to six flowering plants.

Further, the proposal would permit city employees who are medical cannabis patients to present their state-issued ID cards “to avoid adverse employer actions based on a positive drug test for marijuana.”

The measure, which has 11 cosponsors, is also supported by Mayor Tishaura Jones (D).

In a video posted on Tuesday after the Board vote, the mayor criticized “outdated marijuana laws that are unfair, unnecessary and discriminatory” and said she looks forward to signing the new legislation.

The measure will “help reduce racial disparities and give officers more time to focus on violent crime,” she said.

Today, the #STLBOA passed BB 132, which will repeal unjust marijuana laws while making St. Louis safer and more competitive.

I look forward to signing this critical legislation, and I appreciate its cosponsors – especially @24thWardSTL – for their work. #TwoMinutesWithMayorTJpic.twitter.com/12X3uw04O5

— Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) November 23, 2021

Narayan’s bill would specifically prohibit the use of city resources to enforce laws against low-level cannabis possession, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.

It would additionally prevent police from using the smell or visual presence of marijuana smoke as a basis to conduct a search or arrest someone.

Narayan said the legislation is meant to build upon the city’s earlier 2018 reform move, when lawmakers made it so the penalty for possession would be a $25 fine. The new bill would repeal statute allowing for a penalty altogether.

Activities that would remain criminalized include providing marijuana to underage people, possessing excess cannabis and selling marijuana at a property that prohibits it.

An amendment that was adopted to the bill ahead of last week’s perfection vote prohibits the public use of marijuana “except for displays and consumption on private residential property where the person consuming marijuana is either an owner of the property, a person who has a leasehold interest in the property, or any other person who has been granted express or implied permission to consume marijuana on the property by the owner or the lessee of the property.”

The “whereas” section of the bill states that the reform is necessary because “individual residents of the State of Missouri are now permitted to be in possession of marijuana and to cultivate marijuana under certain circumstances” and the “City of St. Louis seeks to avoid subjecting to invasive searches and seizures citizens who are lawfully availing themselves of medical therapies provided for the state constitution.”

Missouri voters approved a medical cannabis ballot measure in 2018.

This action from the St. Louis Board of Alderman comes one year after the Kansas City, Missouri City Council voted to approve an ordinance ending all penalties for marijuana possession under the municipality’s local laws.

In that city, Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) and four local lawmakers filed the cannabis measure, which similarly repeals a provision of the Code of Ordinances stipulating that possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana carries a $25 fine and more than 35 grams is punishable by a $500 fine.

In September, the City Council also approved a measure making it so most government workers in Kansas City will no longer face pre-employment drug tests for cannabis.

Meanwhile, at least two activists groups in the state are aiming to place the question of adult-use marijuana legalization before voters in 2022.

Under Legal Missouri 2022’s proposal, tax revenue from marijuana sales would first support automatic expungements for people with prior cannabis convictions and then go to programs for veterans’ health care, substance misuse treatment and the state’s public defender system.

New Approach Missouri, which has the same leaders as one of the new 2022 efforts, successfully got its medical cannabis measure passed by voters in 2018 in a year in which competing marijuana proposals were also on the ballot.

The organization tried to place the issue of recreational legalization before voters last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that effort.

Meanwhile, some advocates want the legislature to take the lead on reform. And Rep. Shamed Dogan (R), who filed a resolution last year to ask voters about legalization on the ballot and compel lawmakers to develop a legal system if approved, is expected to make another push for similar legislation early next year after the prior effort failed to advance this session.

VA Secretary ‘Looking At’ Medical Marijuana Policy Change Following ‘Profound’ Discussion With Veteran

Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.

St. Louis Lawmakers Move To Decriminalize Marijuana Possession And Cultivation

St. Louis lawmakers have given preliminary approval to a local measure to broadly decriminalize marijuana in the city.

The proposal cleared the near-final “perfection” stage by the Board of Aldermen on Friday after passing on second reading earlier this month. It now requires a third reading vote for final passage.

While the measure from from Alderman Bret Narayan (D) wouldn’t change Missouri state laws that continue to criminalize cannabis, local ordinances penalizing low-level possession and cultivation would be repealed.

Adults 21 and older could possess up to two ounces of marijuana without facing the civil penalty that’s currently in place. It would also make it so that “no resources” could be spent to punish adults for cultivating up to six flowering plants.

The proposal would additional allow city employees who are medical cannabis patients to present their state-issued ID cards “to avoid adverse employer actions based on a positive drug test for marijuana.”

The measure, which has 11 cosponsors, is also supported by Mayor Tishaura Jones (D). A spokesperson for the mayor told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the “intention is to free up police resources so they don’t even have to worry about arresting someone for a victimless crime.”

St. Louis’ marijuana laws are outdated, unfair, and discriminatory. In the past 3 years, 591 people were arrested in our city for marijuana-related charges – of those individuals, 82 percent were Black.   Let me be clear – locking people up for marijuana does NOT make us safer.

— Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) November 21, 2021

Narayan’s bill would specifically prohibit the use of city resources to enforce laws against low-level cannabis possession, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.

Further, it would prevent police from using the smell or visual presence of marijuana smoke as a basis to conduct a search or arrest someone.

“What this attempts to do is stop the creation of a second class of individual which would perpetually be subject to searches based on the presence of marijuana either on their person or in their home or in their automobile,” Narayan said ahead of Friday’s vote, adding that “there’s also a strong racial component here.”

“We know that black folks, from other data, do not use marijuana at higher rates than any other racial group,” he said. Yet an analysis of three years of data found that black people make up the vast majority of cannabis-related arrests in the city.

Narayan said the legislation is meant to build upon the city’s earlier 2018 reform move, when lawmakers made it so the penalty for possession would be a $25 fine. The new bill would repeal statute allowing for a penalty altogether.

“It’s long past time that we updated these kind of relics of laws,” the sponsor said, noting that the current policy can still leave people with a record that can jeopardize things like access to public housing.

82 percent of St. Louis voters supported medical marijuana legalization, and states across the country have taken similar steps to what we are trying to do here.

I look forward to this important legislation’s final passage by the #STLBOA.

— Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) November 21, 2021

Activities that would remain criminalized include providing marijuana to underage people, possessing excess cannabis and selling marijuana at a property that prohibits it.

An amendment that was adopted to the bill ahead of the perfection vote prohibits the public use of marijuana “except for displays and consumption on private residential property where the person consuming marijuana is either an owner of the property, a person who has a leasehold interest in the property, or any other person who has been granted express or implied permission to consume marijuana on the property by the owner or the lessee of the property.”

The “whereas” section of the bill states that the reform is necessary because “individual residents of the State of Missouri are now permitted to be in possession of marijuana and to cultivate marijuana under certain circumstances” and the “City of St. Louis seeks to avoid subjecting to invasive searches and seizures citizens who are lawfully availing themselves of medical therapies provided for the state constitution.”

Missouri voters approved a medical cannabis ballot measure in 2018.

The measure further says “it is the responsibility of the Board of Alderman to harmonize the ordinances of the City of St. Louis with Missouri State law.”

This action from the Board of Alderman comes one year after the Kansas City, Missouri City Council voted to approve an ordinance ending all penalties for marijuana possession under the municipality’s local laws.

In that city, Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) and four local lawmakers filed the cannabis measure, which similarly repeals a provision of the Code of Ordinances stipulating that possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana carries a $25 fine and more than 35 grams is punishable by a $500 fine.

In September, the City Council also approved a measure making it so most government workers in Kansas City will no longer face pre-employment drug tests for cannabis.

Meanwhile, at least two activists groups in the state are aiming to place the question of adult-use marijuana legalization before voters in 2022.

Under Legal Missouri 2022’s proposal, tax revenue from marijuana sales would first support automatic expungements for people with prior cannabis convictions and then go to programs for veterans’ health care, substance misuse treatment and the state’s public defender system.

New Approach Missouri, which has the same leaders as one of the new 2022 efforts, successfully got its medical cannabis measure passed by voters in 2018 in a year in which competing marijuana proposals were also on the ballot.

The organization tried to place the issue of recreational legalization before voters last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that effort.

Meanwhile, some advocates want the legislature to take the lead on reform. And Rep. Shamed Dogan (R), who filed a resolution last year to ask voters about legalization on the ballot and compel lawmakers to develop a legal system if approved, is expected to make another push for similar legislation early next year after the prior effort failed to advance this session.

New York Bill Would Encourage Marijuana Packaging Made From Hemp As A Sustainable Plastic Alternative