A Missouri marijuana advocacy group is protesting the citation of two petitioners in St. Charles over the weekend.
By Joseph Leahy, KWMU.
Two volunteers for Show-Me Cannabis Regulation say they were detained by police shortly after midnight while collecting signatures.
“I think they legitimately thought that that counted as soliciting," said John Payne, a spokesman for the group. "But gathering signatures for a petition is very much protected by the First Amendment. That is pure political expression in a purely public area.”
An official for the St. Charles Police Department could not comment on the incident saying the case is under investigation.
Show-Me Cannabis Regulation is seeking 150,000 signatures to put an initiative on November's ballot that would decriminalize marijuana in the state.