Marijuana law reform under the 2nd Trump administration, pending Missouri appeals court marijuana cases to be discussed at Saturday conference

Marijuana law reform under the 2nd Trump administration, pending Missouri appeals court marijuana cases to be discussed at Saturday conference

 

The prospects for further federal and state marijuana law reform under the second Trump administration, as well as two very important pending cases now in the Missouri Court of Appeals, will be discussed by speakers at the Fall 2024 Missouri NORML Conference this Saturday, November 16, from 1 pm to 5 pm. The Conference will take place entirely online and may be accessed at the Missouri NORML Facebook page.

National NORML Board Chair and Missouri NORML Coordinator Dan Viets will open the Conference with remarks. He will open the Conference at 1:00 pm and introduce the other speakers throughout the afternoon.

Morgan Fox, NORML National Political Director, has 20 years of experience lobbying Congress on marijuana issues. He will review what happened during the first Trump administration and the prospects for further reform, both from the White House and in Congress, during the next four years. Trump made statements supporting legalization and rescheduling during his campaign. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s nominee for US Attorney General, has a long history of support for legalization.  The Trump nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has likewise made strong statements endorsing marijuana legalization.  Trump’s nominee for National Intelligence Director is former Congress member, Tulsi Gabbard, who has also repeatedly advocated for marijuana legalization.

Karen O’Keefe of the Marijuana Policy Project has worked for more than 25 years for marijuana legalization as MPP’s State Policy Director. She will review the fate of marijuana law reform measures which were on the ballot around the nation on November 5. These include legalization initiatives in Florida, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, as well as local decriminalization in Dallas and other Texas cities, medical marijuana in more than 100 Kentucky jurisdictions, and a proposal to allow legal marijuana workers to unionize in Oregon. Here in Missouri, two St. Louis suburbs rejected proposals to ban the sale of non-medical cannabis.

   

NORML is very pleased with the decision earlier this week from the Eastern District Missouri Court of Appeals holding that Article XIV does not allow cities and counties to impose a 3% tax on non-medical marijuana sales. NORML representatives were actively involved in drafting Article XIV, placing it on the ballot and campaigning for its passage.

Two other important Article XIV cases are now pending in the Southern and Western Districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals. Attorney Fawzy Simon submitted an amicus brief in the Western District case which will determine whether municipal marijuana cases are required to be expunged under Article XIV. ACLU Attorney Jon Schmid will discuss a case in which the ACLU is representing a woman whose Dallas County case will determine whether Missouri courts can revoke probation based only on legal marijuana use.

Tara McKinney of the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation will be the final speaker. She will address the status of Missouri micro business licensing and revocation, the establishment of the recently announced “reference lab” which will monitor the work of Missouri marijuana testing laboratories, and the reasons why DHSS has chosen to allow the very toxic substance Vitamin E Acetate to be present in legal marijuana products.

Missouri NORML intends to be actively engaged in the 2025 session of the Missouri General Assembly, which begins in early January. We anticipate many bills of concern to cannabis consumers, including bills to require regulation, testing, and labeling of so-called hemp-derived intoxicating products, which NORML supports.

FALL 2024 MO NORML Conference Agenda

  • 1:00 pm  Welcome and Opening Remarks
  • Dan Viets, National NORML Board Chair and Missouri NORML Coordinator
  • 1:30 pm  Missouri NORML Chapter Reports
  • Greater St. Louis NORML Chapter – Abrahama Keys, Cecil King
  • NORML KC Chapter – Jamie Kacz, George Biswell, Molly Kopczynski
  • Mid-MO NORML Chapter – Lance Lenau, Dan Viets
  • 1:45 pm  Prospects for Marijuana Law Reform in the Second Trump Administration
  • Morgan Fox, NORML Political Director
  • Morgan is an astute observer of national politics with nearly 20 years of experience working in Washington, D.C. for the Marijuana Policy Project, National Cannabis Industry Association and in recent years, as the Political Director for NORML. Despite the fact that Republicans are likely to control Congress and the White House, marijuana law reform is more and more a non-partisan issue. Trump declared his support for legalization in Florida and has stated that he supports rescheduling and federal legalization. Many Republicans in Congress favor further reform.
  • 2:30 pm  Update on the November 5 Election Results in the States
  • Karen O’Keefe, Marijuana Policy Project Director of State Policies
  • On November 5 we had a resounding victory for medical marijuana in Nebraska, decriminalization in Dallas and other Texas communities, solid majority support for adult-use legalization in Florida, and unanimous endorsement for medical marijuana sales in more than 100 Kentucky cities and counties. Karen will discuss these significant victories and how legalization failed in North and South Dakota, and in Florida, where 60% support is required to amend the state’s Constitution.  Karen has worked with the Marijuana Policy Project for more than 25 years and is one of the most well-informed observers of marijuana law in state and local elections across the nation.
  • 3:00 pm  Expungement Update
  • Fawzy Simon, J.D.
  • K.D.W vs. Missouri State Highway Patrol, et al., pending in the Western District Missouri Court of Appeals will decide the important question of whether hundreds of thousands of municipal marijuana and paraphernalia cases are going to be expunged pursuant to Article XIV, Section 2, which states that the Circuit Courts of this state shall expunge all felony and misdemeanor cases. Most Missouri municipal courts have failed to proceed with expungement of their marijuana case records.  This case seeks to clarify that they are indeed required to expunge all such cases.
  • 3:30 pm  Probation: State vs. Federal Law
  • Jon Schmid, Missouri ACLU Policy Counsel
  • State of Missouri vs. Sharon Stewart,  now pending in the Southern District Missouri Court of Appeals, will decide the question of whether people on probation in the State of Missouri can have their probation revoked because of legal marijuana use. Article XIV, Section 2 clearly prohibits this, but some judges believe they can violate the Missouri Constitution because marijuana is “still against federal law.”
  • 4:00 pm Missouri Cannabis Regulation
  • Tara McKinney, Missouri DHSS Division of Cannabis Regulation Public Outreach Director
  • Tara will discuss the issuance and revocation of Missouri microbusiness licenses, the plans to establish a DHSS “reference lab” to monitor the work of marijuana testing labs around the state and why DHSS has allowed Vitamin E Acetate to be present in legal Missouri cannabis products and why DHSS increased its tolerance for that substance by 25 times earlier this year.