MISSOURI POT ADVOCATES LOOK AT BLUE SPRINGS AS NEW BATTLEGROUND

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Marijuana advocates are setting their sights on
several Missouri cities as possible battlegrounds next year in the
escalating debate over decriminalization of the recreational drug.

A 2008 effort to collect enough voter signatures for a
decriminalization initiative in the southwest Missouri town of Joplin
fell 531 names short. Now organizers of that effort are looking at
several possible locations to try again in 2010.

Joplin activist Kelly Maddy told The Associated Press that the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is eyeing
Springfield in southwest Missouri, Blue Springs in suburban Kansas
City and Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri for future campaigns. A
final decision isn't expected until later this year, when activists
likely will select one city where they can concentrate their efforts.

"We want to make it a high-impact city where we can have the greatest
impact on the state," Maddy said.

The renewed interest in changing marijuana laws in Missouri comes as
national discussions about easing prohibitions on pot increase.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently suggested that his
cash-strapped state consider legalizing marijuana and then taxing
sales to boost government revenue. And recent surveys by Zogby and
ABC/The Washington Post show that roughly half of those polled favor
legalization.

"It's a topic that has been suppressed for too long," said Allen St.
Pierre, NORML's executive director. "We have turned a corner now."

Voters in the Missouri college town of Columbia turned that corner in
2004, handily approving a measure that classifies possession of 35
grams of marijuana or less as a low-level misdemeanor offense subject
to municipal court fines of no more than $250, similar to the type of
punishment one might receive for a speeding ticket. The conviction is
dropped if the offender stays out of legal trouble for another year.
Repeat offenders and those with felony convictions are exempt.

A related measure that allows seriously ill patients to use medical
marijuana within the city limits was approved by nearly 70 percent of
Columbia voters.

Elsewhere in Missouri, the tiny town of Cliff Village near Joplin
approved a medical marijuana ordinance earlier this year in a largely
symbolic gesture. And activists in St. Louis are working to collect
the 25,000 signatures needed to put a decriminalization measure before
that city's voters.

Organizers may also soon target University City, a St. Louis suburb
near Washington University, said Joseph Welch, a criminal defense
attorney leading the effort.

Across the border in Arkansas, voters in Fayetteville (2008) and
Eureka Springs (2006) passed variations of marijuana decriminalization
laws. That precedent has Maddy convinced that outwardly conservative
communities such as Springfield or Cape Girardeau would similarly
endorse pro-pot measures.

"This is not a liberal or conservative issue. It's not a rural versus
urban issue," he said.

In Springfield, possession of 35 grams or less of marijuana is already
a low-priority misdemeanor offense, said Johnnie Burgess, the city's
chief municipal prosecutor.

In 2008, more than 800 people were charged with simple possession,
according to city records. Of that number, 543 were convicted of
violating the city ordinance, with 124 receiving suspended sentences.

The change occurred in 2004 after Greene County prosecutor Darrell
Moore said his office would no longer prosecute such cases in state
court.

Still, that doesn't mean police will ignore the law when faced with
potential marijuana offenses.

"The police officers are not going to look the other way," Burgess
said. "They're going to arrest people for possessing marijuana."