Backers of failed marijuana measure back medical legislation

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Boosters of a failed city proposition to allow pot by prescription in Columbia said they will turn their efforts to boosting medical marijuana legislation pending in Jefferson City.

The pending legislation is sponsored by Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Kansas City, and would allow marijuana to be prescribed for the seriously ill. Nine states and several local governments have legalized the practice, although there have been legal challenges backed by the federal government.

About 58 percent of Columbia voters on Tuesday defeated Proposition 1, which had been placed on the ballot earlier this year by petition.

The measure would have coupled legalization of pot by prescription in Columbia with a mandate that cases of possessing of 35 grams or less of marijuana be handled in municipal court rather than state court.

Proponents said the proposed change in how marijuana cases are handled would have spared students in this college town the risk of losing federal student aid if they had a state drug conviction.

Critics -- including law enforcement officials -- said that requirement would have stripped police and prosecutors of discretion in how cases involving certain serious lawbreakers were handled.

Boone County Prosecutor Kevin Crane said Wednesday that he believed voters turned down Proposition 1 because they were satisfied with the handling of most marijuana cases. He noted that the Columbia Police Department's practice is already to send most first-offense cases involving small quantities to municipal court.

Anthony Johnson, the University of Missouri-Columbia law student who spearheaded the Proposition 1 campaign, said he and local attorney Dan Viets, legal adviser to the campaign, would focus on lobbying for the proposed state legislation.