Missouri is a top bet to pass marijuana legalization next week

Missouri is a top bet to pass marijuana legalization next week

 

With just six days before the November 8 election date, insights into the potential legalization of adult use marijuana show support for Missouri’s Amendment 3 and its projected passage.

On Monday, Bookies.com released odds anticipating legalization measures in states around the country.
While Maryland shows an implied probability of +83% to pass its proposed legalization measure, Missouri holds the second spot on the list, showing a betting line of -150 and an implied probability of 60% for approval. 19 states have already passed recreational marijuana measures.

Missouri looks to become the 20th state to pass adult use. With the support of the cannabis industry and advocacy groups like NORML and St. Louis NAACP, the proposed amendment has seen consistently strong polling throughout the year, but as election day draws closer the opposition has become more vocal and increasingly more present.

Bookies.com

Earlier this year the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus and Governor Mike Parson, who are often at opposite ends of the political spectrum, both denounced the measure – for differing reasons. This month The Missouri Catholic Conference, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Sheriff’s United, and the Missouri Hospital Association all announced opposition to Amendment 3.

While the number and prominence of those who oppose Amendment 3 is not insignificant, polling suggests that opposition messaging has not found the same traction as support for the measure.

Part of the reason for that could lie with the wildly different and at times utterly outlandish claims made by some of Amendment 3’s opponents – like those made by The Missouri Constitutional Conservatives PAC, an organization that claims Amendment 3 is “A VEILED ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE MISSOURI CONSTITUTION FOR THE RADICAL AGENDA OF GEORGE SOROS AND THE FAR LEFT.”

Even without the extreme rhetoric, it’s strange to see those who have passionately worked for progress asking for Missouri voters to Passover some of the most progressive legalization language proposed anywhere in the country and join traditional prohibitionists in the call against Amendment 3.