[Katipan]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion...5aea6d5c3.html

Less than 24 hours after voters in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., agreed on Nov. 4 to legalize the sale of marijuana, advocates in Missouri filed notice that the Show-Me State might be next.

Show-Me Cannabis, a pro-pot group that is holding its statewide convention in St. Louis this weekend, filed a constitutional amendment with the secretary of state’s office that, if it makes the ballot, would legalize the sale and manufacture of marijuana for Missourians 21 and older.

Simply filing a ballot initiative doesn’t mean the issue is going to end up before voters in 2016.

For the 2014 election cycle, for instance, a total of 65 petitions were filed with the secretary of state’s office, and only one of them actually made the ballot. Missourians voted on nine total ballot initiatives in August and November this year, but eight of them were placed there by the Legislature.

But with momentum from a string of national votes, and progress in the Missouri Legislature last year with the approval of legislation authorizing a specific hemp-oil extract to treat certain types of epilepsy, the time for a statewide debate over marijuana legalization is ripe.

Let the great pot debate of 2016 begin.