The Missouri NAACP is asking voters not to vote for Amendment 3, a ballot initiative that would legalize adult-use cannabis in the state.
Despite that decree, NAACP chapters in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County have supported the amendment, the St. Louis-Post Dispatch reported.
The Missouri NAACP said in a news release that:
- The amendment “does not increase the number of available full market licenses.”
- A program that would give microbusiness licenses to disadvantaged groups is “very limited.”
However, according to Legal Missouri 2022, the group that’s advocating for adult use, the amendment “seeks to broaden industry participation by small business owners and among disadvantaged populations, including those with limited capital, residents of high-poverty communities, service-disabled veterans, and those previously convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses.”
The Missouri NAACP also noted in its release that “marijuana possession should not be a constitutional crime.”
Under Amendment 3, anyone without a Missouri business license who possesses or grows more than 3 ounces of marijuana with the intent to distribute would be “subject to a misdemeanor.”
“Marijuana possession should not be a constitutional crime,” the Missouri NAACP said in the release.
