A Missouri law enforcement group is urging voters to back the adult-use cannabis legalization question on the upcoming midterm ballot, KMOV reports. The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) LEAP is a non-profit group of criminal justice professionals, including police, prosecutors, and judges that aims to mobilize law enforcement in criminal justice reforms that promote public safety.
Retired Lt. Diane Goldstein, executive director of LEAP, said the organization has “watched as marijuana arrests and convictions taxed the resources of our local police departments and caused real harm to neighborhoods.”
“What people don’t see behind the scenes is that law enforcement has a duty to respond any time dispatch receives a call about these low-level marijuana offenses. They divert our attention from responding to and solving more serious crimes. These calls are a distraction and don’t serve the public interest.” — Goldstein via KMOV
John Payne, Campaign Manager for Legal Missouri 2022, the campaign behind the initiative, said passing the legalization law “will return critical resources to local police, but it will also bring new revenue streams to Missouri’s veterans.”
“The tax revenues will be used equally to support veterans’ services, pay for drug treatment and counseling, as well as fund public defenders,” he told KMOV.
Earlier this month, the Missouri State Highway Patrol filed a copyright claim against one of Legal Missouri 2022’s ads which featured an individual wearing the agency’s uniform. The claim led to the ads being pulled from YouTube.
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