A veterans group seeking to legalize medical cannabis will participate in Lt. Gov. Mike Parson’s Nov. 4 Veterans Week Kickoff event and the Republican former sheriff is fine with that.

Parson, in an interview, said he doesn’t favor legal marijuana for recreational purposes but sees medical use in a different light. The participation of the Veterans Alliance for Compassionate Access doesn’t mean he endorses their views, he said, but he added that it is time to debate the issue.

“What we are trying to do that day, it is for all veterans and advocacy groups,” Parson said. “The medical marijuana deal is not going away. The medical marijuana, I don’t have much problem with that.”

There are two initiative drives underway seeking to put medical marijuana legalization on the November 2018 ballot. One would use a dedicated tax to support medical research; the other has a tax scheme that raises money for veterans’ services. Josh Lee of Holts Summit, organizer of the alliance, said he doesn’t favor either because he wants lawmakers to do it.

“I am willing to step up and giving state government a chance,” Lee said.

The issue is more critical for veterans than many other groups, he said. Studies show states with medical marijuana have a 20 percent or more reduction in opioid overdose deaths, Lee said. In Missouri, with 908 opioid and heroin deaths in 2016, that would have saved 200 lives, he said.

Medical cannabis would also help reduce suicide among veterans, he said. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there have been about 6,900 combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, while suicide among veterans is claiming more than 7,000 lives each year. Studies show suicide rates fall in states where medical marijuana is available.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin said in May that the medical marijuana should be studied for “compelling evidence that this is helpful.” The American Legion is campaigning to relax restrictions on medical marijuana use.

State lawmakers could legalize marijuana for medical use by excepting it from the law that directs the state Department of Health and Senior Services to regulate drugs based on the federal drug schedule, Lee said. Under that schedule, cannabis is listed alongside heroin and LSD as drugs with a high potential for abuse and little medical value.

“It is their job to determine whether or not it should be legal and the Department of Health and Senior Services’ job to determine how,” Lee said. “These are the laws that the representatives and senators have put in place, so it is specifically their job.”

The initiative campaigns are proposing constitutional amendments with nearly identical lists of medical conditions that would qualify, including cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and HIV/AIDS. The initiative from New Approach Missouri, which imposes a 4 percent tax on retail marijuana sales to pay for veterans programs, also allows medical marijuana use by patients with debilitating psychiatric disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder.

New Approach Missouri fell about 200 signatures short of getting on the 2016 ballot because it could not get enough valid voters in the Second Congressional District, which covers the most populous area of the state in St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The campaign has raised $519,000 to try again and has collected more than 100,000 signatures since it began the campaign in February, spokesman Jack Cardetti said Wednesday.

Cardetti said he’s not surprised that Parson has a positive view of medical marijuana. Legalization is popular with Republicans who have libertarian views, he said, and polls show more than 60 percent of Missourians favor medical marijuana.

“This issue just has broad, bipartisan support,” he said.

But Cardetti doesn’t expect lawmakers to act ahead of an initiative campaign.

“It is our view that pushing this in the legislative route is a fool’s errand,” he said. “If you really want to provide relief to Missouri patients, you need to do it through the ballot box. It is clear to me that votes are far out in front where elected officials are in Missouri.”

The other initiative, financed with almost $500,000 by attorney Brad Bradshaw of Springfield, uses money from a wholesale tax by weight and a 15 percent retail surtax to fund medical research. Cures developed in the research will be the property of the state and revenue from licensing will be split between additional research, state programs and payments to taxpayers.

“My bill is not a bill for medical marijuana, it is a bill for incurable diseases,” Bradshaw said. “The marijuana is just a portion to generate revenue and seed money.”

The campaign has gathered 148,000 signatures, Bradshaw said.

Lee said he leans toward the New Approach Missouri proposal if he must choose between the two, calling it the most balanced plan.

Parson’s even for veterans will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Capitol Building in Jefferson City. It is intended to be a day for advocacy on all veterans issues, he said. Marijuana is just one of those issues, he said.

“I am always going to be leaning toward law and order and right now the bottom line is that marijuana is illegal,” Parson said. “On the medical marijuana side of it, there is discussion to be had.”

rkeller@columbiatribune.com

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