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First lawmaker to sponsor marijuana legalization legislation signals opposition to ballot questions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The former-House budget chair who started the legislative push to legalize marijuana, will not be backing any of the three cannabis questions on the November ballot.

“I am the first person in Missouri to sponsor legalization. I will vote NO on all of them because of the way they are written,” former Rep. Chris Kelly wrote on Twitter.

There are currently three measures on the November ballot, all placed there through initiative petition, that are asking Missourians to legalize medical marijuana. One is currently being challenged in court and another lawsuit against a different measure was dismissed from court.

All three proposals are vastly different: two are Constitutional amendments, one is a statutory change; tax rates range from 2 percent to 15 percent; cost of administration runs between $500,000 to $10 million; and revenue generation estimates vary from $10 million to $66 million.