JEFFERSON CITY — A Missouri Republican’s political action committee is criticizing a plan to encourage disadvantaged people to enter the cannabis industry, accusing supporters of being “woke” and engaging in a “far left campaign.”
The Missouri Constitutional Conservatives PAC claims voters will put “critical race theory” in the state constitution if they vote yes on Amendment 3 to legalize the recreational use of marijuana on Nov. 8.
The 39-page plan creates the position of chief equity officer, who will be tasked with providing information to people eligible for marijuana “microbusiness” licenses under the constitutional amendment.
“Amendment 3 would put critical race theory in the Missouri Constitution through the creation of a chief equity officer,” the PAC claims on its website. “Missouri’s woke medical marijuana industry and their far left campaign affiliates are planning to advance critical race theory.”
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Critical race theory refers to the study of systemic racism in society.
Notably, though, Amendment 3 doesn’t mention any race as a criteria to qualify for a marijuana microbusiness license.
The amendment requires microbusiness applicants to be “majority owned by individuals who each meet at least one” of several conditions.
Qualifications include having a net worth of less than $250,000 and meeting lower-income requirements, having a service-connected disability card from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, being arrested or prosecuted or having a close relative arrested or prosecuted for certain nonviolent marijuana offenses, residing in a ZIP code or census tract that meets certain conditions, or graduating from an unaccredited school district or living in a ZIP code with an unaccredited school district for three of the last five years.
Asked to comment Tuesday, Jasper Logan, treasurer for Missouri Constitutional Conservatives, hung up on a reporter. Logan lost a GOP primary in August for a seat in the Missouri House.
The PAC’s critique of Amendment 3 was circulated by at least one Republican group, the North St Louis County Republican Club, which included a memo from the group in a political advisory emailed on Monday.
Records filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission show the PAC as of Sept. 30 had raised and spent about $1,000.
Donations included $34 from Great State Strategies, a firm founded by Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist and spokesman for the No on Amendment 3 campaign.
Thampy has derided the “microbusiness” plan, describing it as a “second-class, Jim Crow” proposal.
Full “comprehensive” licenses under Amendment 3 will at first only go to current medical marijuana businesses, which have primarily funded the Legal Missouri 2022 campaign.
John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri, did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
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