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Marijuana legalization advocates speak at MU

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Two advocates of marijuana legalization spoke at MU to encourage community members to support the reform. Ira Glasser and Neill Franklin spoke last Thursday and both pushed for expansion of legalizing marijuana, but for different reasons.

Glasser, the president of Drug Policy Alliance, said that legalizing marijuana on a national scale would eliminate many drug-related arrests.

“Over the last 10-15 years, more people have been arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana in New York City than in any other place in the world,” he said.

Franklin, a former law enforcement officer in Maryland, is currently the executive director of Law Enforcement against Prohibition. He said that legalizing marijuana would not only keep children away from cartels, but would also allow law enforcement to use resources better. Franklin questioned those who were against legalization by presenting the current situation of the drug trade.

“If you think that the cartels, our neighborhood crews, organized crime, if you think that they are doing a good job then let’s leave it as it is,” he said.

Franklin also emphasized how businesses that would legally sell the drug should be smart about who they sell to.

“A system of regulation and control, managed by responsible business owners who aren’t going to hire children or sell to children, is a better model so let’s change that,” he said.

Franklin is working with Show Me Cannabis to try to legalize marijuana in the state of Missouri.

Both speeches come a week after marijuana reform advocates filed an initiative petition to the Missouri Secretary of State. The petition will be on the 2016 ballot.

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