Dear Friends,
On Friday, May 4, 2018, the New Approach Missouri medical marijuana initiative campaign filed more than 372,400 signatures with the Office of the Missouri Secretary of State in Jefferson City. Only 168,000 valid signatures are required in order to place the legalization of medical access to cannabis for therapeutic purposes on the ballot in Missouri in November of 2018.
Fieldworks, the professional petitioning company retained by NAM did an excellent job of gathering signatures and keeping the campaign’s Board of Directors informed, on a daily basis, of the number of signatures gathered in each county and each congressional district in our state. We are virtually certain to have well in excess of the required signatures to be certified for the November ballot.
This accomplishment is the result of the generosity of hundreds of donors and the work of hundreds of volunteers who gathered signatures for this initiative. I thank all of you who have contributed generously to support this effort. I ask you to consider making a donation at this time to support the campaign to pass this measure by going to NewApproachMissouri.org.
All polling has indicated that support for medical marijuana in Missouri is well above 60%. Only 50% of voters is required in order for this initiative to succeed in amending our state’s Constitution. Although one or possibly two other medical marijuana initiatives may be placed on the ballot, ours will be first among the Constitutional amendments on this topic. If both of the two Constitutional amendment initiatives pass, the one with more votes will prevail.
The other two medical marijuana initiatives being circulated do not allow for any patient cultivation. The other Constitutional amendment initiative would impose the highest tax on medical marijuana in the country. That tax would go to support a medical research institute which will be required to be headed by one who is both a lawyer and a doctor. The individual who filed this initiative happens to hold both a J.D. and an M.D. degree. Further, that research institute’s board of directors will be hand-picked by the individual who filed the initiative, the same individual who will apparently be heading that research institute, which would be funded by imposing a high tax on medical marijuana patients, who would have no legal alternative to purchasing cannabis from dispensaries through this very restrictive proposal.
The other initiative proposes to enact a statutory law. If either of the Constitutional amendments passes, this statutory initiative will be rendered irrelevant. Further, the Missouri General Assembly has demonstrated that it will not hesitate to repeal or radically amend any statutory initiative passed by the voters.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Dan Viets, Chair
New Approach Missouri
Board of Directors
For more info, please contact Dan Viets via email at danviets@gmail.com. You can also follow New Approach Missouri on FaceBook and Twitter!
