A Springfield Attorney, backing medical marijuana group “Find the Cures”, is looking to be the only initiative on November ballots.
The man behind one of Missouri’s three medical marijuana initiatives set to be on November ballots has filed lawsuits against the other two petitions also looking to legalize pot for medical use.
Springfield Lawyer Brad Bradshaw (Image courtesy of KOLR-TV)
Springfield Lawyer Brad Bradshaw, the one spearheading the “Find the Cures” initiative, is suing New Approach Missouri and Missourians for Patient Care.
Bradshaw’s suit is claiming that not all of the signatures on their petitions were valid.
Bradshaw and “Find the Cures” will be found as Amendment 3 on your ballots.
They are looking to disqualify the other two initiatives: New Approach Missouri (Amendment 2), Â and Missourians for Patient Care (Proposition C).
Starting with Proposition C, the lawsuit claims it falls short in Congressional District 5, where they had 38 more than the required 16,348 signatures needed, but the suit claims 39 or more of those signatures in that district, are invalid.
As for the suit against Amendment 2, Bradshaw claims thousands signed the petition while not in the presence of the circulator, rendering their signatures invalid.
The suit goes on to claim that New Approach Missouri, which ran the campaign for Amendment 2, violated the legal requirements of the petition signature gathering process on multiple occasions that petitions by placing petitions at retail establishments for individuals to sign without doing so in the presence of the circulator.
Jack Cardetti is the Spokesperson for New Approach Missouri. He is confident they have enough valid signatures to be on the ballot, saying they got more signatures in qualifying districts than anyone else.
“This is a desperate attempt by Brad Bradshaw to try to do in court, what he’s not going to be able to do at the ballot box, and that’s prevent Amendment 2 from passing,” Cardetti says. Â “We are clearly going to be on the ballot, this is just a last-ditch desperate attempt by someone who is quite frankly litigious by nature.”
KOLR10 reached out to Attorney Lowell Pearson, the backer of Prop C, Missourians for Patient Care. The station did not get a call back for comment on Wednesday.
Brad Bradshaw declined to interview on the matter, saying he did not want to try his case in the media but did say at some point he would be ready to speak.
Bradshaw hopes to disqualify the other two initiatives, making his the only one on November ballots. He will have to do so by August 28th when the Secretary of State’s office will certify November’s ballot measures.
Missourinet media partner KOLR-TV contributed this story
