In November, Missourians will have the opportunity to vote on three separate ballots dealing with the legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana research. The three initiatives vary in form and reach on the issue of medical marijuana.

Thirty states have passed medical marijuana and nine have passed marijuana for recreational use, along with Washington D.C. The Missouri vote will take place on November 6, 2018.



When local lawyer Denise McCracken began researching whether to incorporate medical marijuana into her legal practice, she found the information lengthy and oddly worded. Presentations she attended sometimes failed to disclose simple information about the bills.



“I was struck by the amount of time spent reading, re-reading, analyzing and then comparing each of the initiatives,” said McCracken. With many of the available summaries being clearly motivated by biases of either supporters or opponents, McCracken decided voters needed a better option for information. She created CannaOutsider, a simple informational website voters can use to find information on the new ballot initiatives.



“CannaOutsider is my way of taking what was already learned and putting that information into charts and graphs to make comparisons easier. Because, you shouldn’t have to be an insider to understand what’s on the ballot,” McCracken said.



The information on the initiatives is broken down into clear-to-read charts with simple background information like what agencies oversee the use, what the sales tax percentages will be, what diseases the bill will cover, and details of what will be available to patients.



Denise McCracken is the founder of CannaOutsider, LLC and D.B. McCracken Law, LLC. Her legal practice focuses on estate planning, probate, guardianship matters and mediation.

