A small cluster of people gathered in Sikeston on March 25 to listen and debate the potential legalization of marijuana in Missouri. Some were supportive of medical use of marijuana, including Brandy Johnson of Bernie, Mo. Johnson's son, Tre, has a rare medical condition called diprosopus, or cranial duplication.

Johnson didn't expect Tre to live through the night when he was born. Ten years later, Tre's condition causes severe epilepsy. At one point this caused him to have more than 300 seizures daily.

Tre's seizures have improved with the use of very risky medications and treatments, such as being surgically implanted with a vagus nerve stimulator, similar to a pacemaker, which shocks Tre every 20 seconds for 7 seconds at a time. This is used to lessen the severity of his seizures, but the device is turned up as far as Tre's body can handle and he still experiences around 120 to 200 seizures daily.

Some drugs that Tre has taken, like Topamax, have had severe side effects. On Topamax, Tre couldn't be in direct sunlight for too long because it could cause a stroke and it also kept Tre dehydrated.

Johnson also said every medication he's tried, expect for one, caused him to sleep for days on end. But unfortunately none of these forms of treatment have lasted longer than a few weeks. Johnson said they have tried everything else known to treat epilepsy.

"Every single seizure medication that he's been on, the side effects could result in death," Johnson said. "This is something I wouldn't have to worry about with medical marijuana."

Johnson said she has received a lot of negative feedback from opposers.

Her argument was that the use of medical marijuana oils could drastically improve Tre's condition. Johnson said in some cases of epilepsy, children have gone from hundreds of seizures a day to a few every month using medical marijuana treatments. She hopes for the same results for Tre because his condition is deadly.

According to Johnson, Tre frequently has to be resuscitated.

"Tre's seizures haven't lasted for more than four minutes at a time, but he does still have to be resuscitated and he has died in my arms twice," Johnson said. "Our only other option is to either fight for the medicine that my son and so many others rely on or to move to Colorado and at this moment we can't afford to move to Colorado."

Show-Me Cannabis is an association of organizations that advocate for the legalization of marijuana. Show-Me Cannabis director John Payne said some of the most frequently heard arguments against legalization are youth use and driving regulations. Payne said both could be dealt with regulations modeled after alcohol regulations, similar to the laws in Colorado.

Many people are concerned about marijuana being a "gateway drug." Brandon Erwin, Southeast junior, said he's concerned about the possible effect it would have in society.

"Making marijuana legal will set a negative example for younger generations like saying 'Oh, this one's OK,' and that might lead people to push the limits toward harder drugs," Erwin said.

Debra Holzhauer is an associate professor of political science at Southeast Missouri State University. Holzhauer believes marijuana is no more of a gateway drug than cigarettes or alcohol. She said if anyone has an addictive personality they are going to get addicted to something, but there are ways to regulate marijuana.

"There is very much a stigma associated with it now and we think of it as a gateway drug," Holzhauer said. "But at the same time, tell me alcohol can't be a gateway drug."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 88,000 alcohol-related deaths each year. There is no recorded death in history directly from marijuana use.

With all the proven medical benefits of marijuana, the usefulness of hemp farming and the lack of dangerous chemicals for recreational users, some wonder what the governmental hold-up in Missouri is.

Holzhauer said she believes part of the reason lawmakers are reluctant to legalize is the details involved with regulation and possible field sobriety testing. The other problem is that marijuana is still going to be federally illegal.

"You have a lot of banks that are very hesitant with working with this industry, these stores and whatnot because of the fact that it's still, according to federal law, an illegal drug," Holzhauer said. "There's going to have to be some type of change at the federal level in reclassifying the drug."

Holzhauer said that with current legislature she does not foresee legalization on a federal level any time in the near future. While Holzhauer has never used marijuana recreationally or otherwise, as a personal opinion she believes it should be legalized for Missouri. She said Missouri's government could benefit from legalization through taxes and generate revenue in other ways.

"I know that Colorado right now is doing quite well with regards to revenues that are being generated through legalization of marijuana," Holzhauer said. "There's revenues that you can make. There's also the benefit of the fact that you're not going to be arresting and incarcerating people on minor drug charges. There's a lot of people that were arrested on the basis of just possession of minute amounts of marijuana. It's expensive to incarcerate prisoners."

In this way, Missouri would be saving money from people incarcerated over marijuana charges every year. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, the average annual cost of one inmate per year in Missouri is $22,350. Holzhauer said imprisonment over marijuana charges only exacerbates the prison-overcrowding issue and this can be an extremely dangerous situation.

Payne said members of Show-Me Cannabis will gather signatures to get marijuana legalization on the ballot in 2016.