JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Prosecuting attorneys and marijuana legalization advocates are battling over the public safety impact from Missouri’s potential approval of recreational marijuana in November.
The Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, in a statement Thursday, warned the measure would make it harder to prosecute people for driving under the influence of marijuana. They also said drug dealers under the age of 21 would only be subject to a civil penalty for giving or selling marijuana to kids.
But legalization advocates and supporters of the amendment, which will be listed on the Missouri ballot as Amendment 3, are calling concerns about marijuana prosecutions overblown. The group that crafted the amendment also said the prosecutors read the amendment incorrectly. A person who sells marijuana to kids would still be subject to a felony under state law, the group said.
“The idea that people can sell to kids and that not be a criminal offense? That’s just false,” said John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri 2022, which spearheaded the amendment. “That remains criminal. We were essentially silent on that and then that falls back to current statute, which are felony offenses. Any sort of distribution outside of the regulated system remains a criminal offense.”
After being pressed by The Kansas City Star on Friday, Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson, who is president of the association, said the part of the group’s statement about selling to kids only being a civil penalty was an error. Still, the prosecutors argue that marijuana legalization is a threat to community safety.
Much of the association’s criticism takes aim at a provision in the ballot question that says “lawful marijuana related activities cannot be the basis for a violation of parole, probation, or any type of supervised release.”
Patterson said that this provision would make it harder to prosecute people arrested or convicted of driving under the influence of marijuana.
“Part of a prosecution is the sentencing part, which for many crimes is going to involve probation and conditions of probation,” he said. “Amendment 3 prohibits effective conditions by allowing someone who’s committed a crime while high on marijuana to continue to use marijuana.”
Mike Mansur, a spokesperson for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, said her office would not comment specifically on the association’s statement.
“We’re going to trust the voters to determine this outcome and we’ll abide by that outcome,” he said.
The association’s statement points out that possession of marijuana is still against federal law. It said the amendment attempts to require Missouri judges to ignore the fact that a general condition of probation is to “obey all laws” — which likely includes federal law.
The association, in its statement, also cited a 2021 report from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, an anti-drug trafficking program established by the White House, that found that after legalizing recreational marijuana in 2013, Colorado saw a 138% increase in traffic fatalities where the driver tested positive for marijuana. The study found that fatalities with drivers testing positive for marijuana increased from 55 in 2013 to 131 in 2020.
Payne, in an interview with The Star, pushed back on Patterson’s criticism. He said driving under the influence of marijuana would still be illegal under the amendment and prosecutors will be able to continue doing their job. But, he said a person should still be able to legally use marijuana while on parole.
“We do say that anything that is legal under Amendment 3 is not grounds for a probation or parole violation and I think that’s appropriate,” he said. “We shouldn’t be punishing somebody for doing something that is legal, they shouldn’t be able to be imprisoned because they are doing something in compliance with the law. And especially in the case of medical marijuana patients, this is something that is a medical need.”
As for the data about Colorado, Payne said having marijuana in one’s system does not necessarily impact a person’s driving ability because it’s hard to determine when the person used it. He also said there’s no correlation between the legalization of recreational marijuana and traffic deaths.
“My understanding is that they weren’t actually keeping very close records on any of the stuff prior to legalization,” he said. “The biggest question is: Is there an actual increase in traffic fatalities correlated with marijuana legalization? And the answer to that is no.”
Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, also pushed back on the association’s criticism in an interview with The Star, saying that people on parole should be able to partake in something that is legal similar to alcohol.
Grant said she supports marijuana legalization because it seeks to close the disparity gap of minorities who have been arrested for low level drug offenses.
“These prosecutors need to be focusing on high level drug trafficking and not low level folks, you know, having a little weed in their car or they smoke the joint, you know?” she said.
The prosecutors on Thursday also blasted the amendment for allowing a marijuana dealer to “give or sell to middle schoolers and face only a ‘civil penalty’ of $100.” The group later on Friday said the part of the statement that said “sell” was an error.
That criticism appeared to reference a provision in the amendment that says any person younger than 21 years old who “delivers without consideration or distributes without consideration three ounces or less of marijuana” is subject to a $100 fine.
Payne said this provision does not apply to selling marijuana. It’s meant to apply to someone who hands their friend marijuana or a joint, he said. He said a person who deals drugs to middle schoolers would still face felony drug charges under Missouri law.
———
