LEBANON, MO. – Recreational marijuana sales are in full swing across Missouri, but these sales could be coming to a halt in some cities.
In Lebanon, city council members just approved a bill to allow voters to ban recreational marijuana sales in the city.
This ballot question will be posed to voters in Nov. 2024: “Shall the City of Lebanon ban all non-medical microbusiness dispensary facilities and comprehensive marijuana dispensary facilities from being located within the City of Lebanon and forgo any additional related local tax revenue?”
If 60 percent of voters say yes, it will go through.
Blue Sage Cannabis dispensary in Lebanon was just approved to start selling recreational marijuana.
“There is a demand for access to safe cannabis,” said CEO of Show-me Organics Boston Dickerson. “If we don’t fill that gap within the city limits of Lebanon, people will just go outside of the city limits and get this cannabis and bring it back to Lebanon. It’s not like they are keeping it completely out of the community, even if this ban would go through.”
The city council also just recently decided to put a marijuana sales tax question on the upcoming April election ballot.
It would add a three percent sales tax on all retail sales of recreational marijuana sold in the city.
Funds would help the police department and drug abuse prevention.
Despite that, city officials said they wanted to give voters the option to stop recreational sales because Amendment 3 to the Missouri Constitution was not passed by the voters of Laclede County.
“I’m not for marijuana being legal, recreationally,” said one voter. “It wouldn’t bother me to ban it.”
The vote cannot happen until 2024 because it is a rule that it must be done on a presidential election year.
