COLUMBIA -- The 2009 Missouri Drug Policy Reform Conference took place at MU this weekend, attracting those from Columbia and surrounding areas who hope that laws regarding the criminalization of drugs, particularly marijuana, will soon be changed.

"It really would be a different world if it were legal," said one of the speakers, Fredric Raines, an economics professor at Washington University who pointed out the economic benefits of the legalization of medical marijuana.

Every year, a Missouri Drug Policy Reform Conference is held somewhere in the state to raise awareness about drug policy reform and to give those working for change a chance to organize.

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