Tag: Missouri

Maryland, Missouri Approve Recreational Marijuana

Several states had recreational marijuana on the ballot. Maryland and Missouri became the 20th and 21st states to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use on Tuesday, but cannabis reform efforts met defeat in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Maryland voters approve a constitutional amendment that legalizes recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. It will go into effect on July 1, 2023, and allow possession of 1.5 ounces or two plants. Possession of small amounts of marijuana was already decriminalized in Maryland. Under the amendment, those previously convicted of cannabis possession and intent to distribute will be able to apply for record expungement, according to media reports.
Missouri voters ended prohibitions on marijuana in the state and allow personal use for those over the age of 21. It will allow for personal possession up to three ounces and allow individuals with marijuana-related non-violent offenses to petition for release from prison or parole and probation and have their records expunged.
North Dakota voters rejected a citizen-initiated ballot measure that aimed at allowing the use of marijuana in “various forms” for those who are at least 21 years-old. It would have allowed marijuana possession of up to an ounce and all marijuana to be tested in a facility “for the potency of products and the presence of pesticides” and subject to random inspection.
South Dakotans rejected legalizing cannabis in the state, too. Legalization for recreational marijuana use had passed in South Dakota in 2020, but the results were nullified by state courts. According to the proposed 2022 ballot measure, marijuana possession of up to an ounce would have been legal. It also would have legalized possession of marijuana paraphernalia, use and distribution.
Additionally, Arkansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed cannabis possession and recreational consumption by adults as well as the sale by licensed facilities. Had it passed, cannabis possession of up to an ounce would have been legal and some tax revenue from marijuana sales would have contributed to funding law enforcement.
November 9, 2022
Several States set to Vote on Recreational Marijuana

Credit: Fresh Ideas
Recreational marijuana legalization is on the ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota next week.
If approved, the states would join the 19 (along with Washington, DC) where recreational use is currently legal. Thirty-seven states, three territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of marijuana products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Medical marijuana is currently legal in each of the five states that will vote on recreational use on Tuesday.
Marijuana is illegal under federal law, even as individual states have moved toward legal use for recreational and medical purposes.
But in October, the Biden administration announced that President Joe Biden pardoned all people convicted of federal marijuana possession through executive action.
Leaders in the U.S. Senate introduced sweeping legislation earlier this year that would end federal prohibitions on marijuana more than 50 years after Congress made the drug illegal.
November 4, 2022
Columbia, Missouri Considers Flavored E-Liquid Ban
City council members in Columbia, Missouri will review a report from the Missouri Board of Health concerning banning flavored vaping products in an effort “to reduce the number of youth vaping in Boone County.”
Credit: Spirit of America
According to an agenda memo, the Board of Health began studying the issue of youth vaping and its impact on mental and physical health in October 2019. Now, the board has sent the report to council, requesting assistance to prevent teen vaping, according to ABC17 News.
The report details three recommendations that could help decrease youth vaping, including zoning restrictions on vape shops, since vape shops can currently operate near schools. Health officials also recommend a ban on flavored vaping products since currently e-cigarettes are “sold in over 15,000 flavors.”
The board is also recommending the council explore higher taxes on vaping products to increase the cost and hopefully reduce use by youth. Multiple studies have found that flavor bans actually boost youth use of tobacco and vaping products.
No vote is expected on the report Monday night.
August 16, 2021
Legal THC Vape Pens Enter Missouri Marijuana Market
Eight Missouri medical marijuana dispensaries, including three in the Kansas City area, started selling THC vape pens and cartridges for the first time last week. Store owners say customers have clamored for them for some time, despite varying opinions on their safety.
Credit: Clear Cannabis
The potential dangers of vaping nicotine and black market THC have been studied. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hasn’t updated reports on a lung injury associated with black market THC vaping products since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but in February 2020 it reported 2,800 hospitalized cases of EVALI and 68 deaths since August of 2019. The CDC has stated that vitamin E acetate in illegal THC vape pens was to blame for the lung disease.
“Vaping products are “by far our No. 1 request,” Greenlight CEO John Mueller said, according to an article in Newsbreak.
Last week, medical marijuana vape pens were delivered to Greenlight’s dispensaries in Kansas City, Independence and Harrisonville. It’s the first time the products have been available in the state because it took time for cultivators to extract trim material down to a distillate form that could be vaporized.
“It’s an exciting day for the industry,” Mueller said, opening the first box.
March 22, 2021
New Missouri Study Shows Decrease in Teen Vaping

Credit: Christy Ash
A new student study in Missouri shows a decrease in teen e-cigarette use. The news was a welcome message to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department
“Our tag line is saving one breath at a time,” said Springfield-Greene County Community Wellness Coordinator, Cara Erwin. The Springfield-Greene County Health Department says students in the county are taking that message seriously, according to a story on KY3.com.
“In 2020 it showed that e-cigarette use went down twenty percent from 2018,” said Erwin, adding that the data comes from the students. “Missouri Student Survey is conducted once a year. It’s a survey where students are surveyed on their behaviors and perceptions on substance abuse.”
Erwin said three main components are the reason it went down in Greene County. The age being raised to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes, the lung related illnesses from e-cigarettes and the health department’s education seminars on the dangers of smoking.
June 9, 2020