A Judges in the Cole County Missouri Circuit Court Friday dismissed a lawsuit aimed at overturning Legal Missouri 2022’s initiative to introduce a motion to legalize recreational cannabis in the November ballot, reports marijuana moment.

That Judge Cotton Walker’s decision follows a court hearing on Thursday, during which arguments by Joy Sweeney, a local anti-legalization activist supported by the Protect Our Kids PAC from Colorado who filed the lawsuit were laid out.

The court dismissed the case because the plaintiff had failed to “prove an essential element of her plea,” citing her allegation that she was a Jefferson City resident.

Had it not been dismissed on procedural grounds, the In this case, the decision would be in favor of the legalization campaign on all countsthe judge said.

“This court would therefore have dismissed the petition and fixed the costs against the plaintiff if it had decided on the merits in this case,” the judgment says said.

background

The lawsuit argued that the The petition was improperly endorsed by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft Last month. This move officially brought the Legal Missouri 2022 initiative to the November election.

Besides the The lawsuit alleged that the language of the measure did not conform to the state constitution and alleged a violation of the one-subject principle Rules and that the initiative did not have enough signatures to be presented to voters.

John Payne, Legal Missouri 2022 Campaign Manager, they said earlier submitted nearly 400,000 signatures from Missourians willing to see cannabis legal.

He called the court’s ruling “another step toward the historic passage of this citizen-led initiative to regulate, tax and legalize marijuana in Missouri, while also automatically erasing prior nonviolent marijuana crimes from the records of Missouri residents.” .

However, Cannabis prohibitionists remain poised to hit back as they plan to appeal the verdict.

“We are appealing this ruling because it appears that the judge and …