State sheriffs group votes to oppose efforts to legalize marijuana

Not going to pot

The Missouri Sheriff's Association took a unanimous vote to oppose legislation or ballot initiatives that would make medical or recreational marijuana legal statewide.

Association President Rodney Herring said the 115 members and sheriffs of Missouri discussed voting against proposed bill and talking to constituents at the local level to encourage voters to vote against potential reform.

"It's a harmful substance," Herring said. "The marijuana today is not the same stuff that was available in the 70's. Smoking is harmful for your body and people have been caught going to work and driving under the influence, and those are huge liabilities. It just comes down to a public safety issue."

Two proposals for marijuana reform have been filed both at the House and Senate. Both Senate Bill 762 and House Joint Resolution 57 would allow adults 21 or older to purchase, possess and use up to one ounce of marijuana. The bill would also provide a process of licensing retail marijuana stores, cultivation facilities, product manufacturers and testing facilities, according to the bill summary.

If the bill passes the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control would regulate the industry by overseeing its production and retail sales, which would be subject to a 12.9 percent sales tax.

The resolution would also allow for the sale of industrial hemp, which would be regulated separately from marijuana.

"We're talking about people taking a bag of marijuana and putting a sticker on it," Herring said.

Herring went on to discuss marinol, a cannabinoid-based medication that treats nausea and vomiting caused by cancer medications and also increasing the appetite of people with AIDS, and the Food and Drug Administration's testing of hemp oils.

"(Those medications) have gone under trials with the FDA," he added. "We're truly against the idea of putting marijuana in a bag and considering it a medication. We don't want to interfere with rights, but we love Missouri and its citizens and want what's best for its future."

"We're not seeing the people using it for medical use," Callaway County Sheriff Crane said. "We see the criminal element, where it's a pretty common denominator as a gateway drug; we see the common denominator. In what we deal with we don't have proof that it has a medical benefit."