JEFFERSON CITY, MO — The Downsizing State Government Committee of the Missouri House of Representatives held a listening tour across the state this week, and they heard from Show-Me Cannabis supporters at most stops.
The committee visited Saint Louis, Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Joplin, Springfield, Independence, Saint Joseph, Columbia, and Jefferson City.
This is the same committee that gave a very favorable hearing to a decriminalization bill at the end of this year’s legislative session. After that hearing, committee chairman Paul Curtman (R – Pacific) and vice chair Mike Kelley (R – Lamar) both told reporters that they favor the bill. Furthermore, Rep. Curtman spoke at our conference and one of our town hall meetings.
In my testimony to the committee in Saint Louis, I thanked the legislators for considering decriminalization. I also encouraged them to consider any decriminalization or legalization bills introduced next session as both would substantially reduce the size and scope of Missouri’s government.
Several other attendees at the Saint Louis meeting voiced support for reforming the state’s marijuana laws including Saint Louis City Republican Committeeman Curtis Farber and READ MORE
ST. LOUIS, MO — In St. Louis, Missouri Sgt. Gary Wiegert has been given permission by his chief of police to become an official lobbyist in the state to legalize marijuana for the non-profit organization Show Me Cannabis.
While there are hundreds of former law enforcement officers lobbying with the non-profit group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), having a currently employed law enforcement officer being given the ‘green’ light by their command to lobby for marijuana legalization maybe a first. Regardless, it most certainly will not be the last!
Article appeared from the AP in the Kansas City Star:
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson has reversed course and will allow a veteran officer to moonlight as a lobbyist for a pro-marijuana organization.
Dotson wrote to police Sgt. Gary Wiegert on Tuesday saying his request for “secondary employment” will be allowed.Wiegert filed a complaint earlier this year with U.S. District Court claiming the department violated his First Amendment rights to free speech for refusing to allow him to lobby on behalf of Show-Me Cannabis.
Wiegert worked for three years as a lobbyist for the St. Louis Tea Party. In February, he submitted a new applicatio. . . . . READ MORE