Last summer, Cottleville Mayor Don Yarber fired up the media when he convinced his aldermen to urge the Missouri Legislature to legalize the medical marijuana. Now Yarber and the aldermen have scheduled a nonbinding advisory referendum on the issue on the April 6 ballot. Yarber is gambling that voters will endorse the idea and add some momentum to legalization efforts in the state Capitol. He says marijuana helped his wife, Sylvia, when she became very sick after chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer sixteen years ago

Mayor Yarber himself won't be on the ballot in April, but the man he defeated last year, Eric Holt, opposes medical marijuana legalization and criticizes Yarber for presuming that a town as small as Cottleville could have any influence on the issue statewide. Yarber agrees his community is conservative, but compassionate, seeing how it helped Sylvia

The referendum has two parts. One question attempts to get Cottleville voters' opinion on whether Missouri law should be changed to allow marijuana use for medical purposes. The other question asks if that issue should be placed on a statewide ballot. Fourteen states have passed a law allowing medical marijuana so far with New Jersey the latest. A bill calling for a statewide vote died in last year's legislative session without getting a hearing. It’s sponsor, Representative Kate Meiners of Kansas City, expects a tough battle again this year. Her current bill seeks a vote in November 2011.