Drug bill co-sponsor arrested on marijuana charge

Rep. Jeremy LaFaver, D-Kansas City, the co-sponsor of a bill that would have softened Missouri drug laws for those picked up for possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana or who have drug paraphernalia ran into drug problems of his own this afternoon... when he was arrested by a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of up to 35 grams of marijuana.

Information posted on the Highway Patrol website indicates LaFaver, who is also head of the Missouri Democratic Victory Committee, also was cited for failure to appear on a traffic charge. He was stopped in Boone County.

Online Moniteau County court records show LaFaver failed to show up for a May 7 hearing on misdemeanor charges of failure to register a motor vehicle and as owner of a vehicle allowing someone else to operate it without maintaining financial responsibility. He had been cited for those charges in April.

The drug bill LaFaver co-sponsored, HB 512 sponsored by Rep. Rory Ellinger, D-University City, did not pass.