Columbia, Mo. ? A group of students at the University of Missouri-Columbia have gathered enough signatures to force a vote in the city on legalizing marijuana for medical use and reducing penalties for those caught with small amounts of the drug.

The Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education collected enough signatures to put the issue on the April 8 ballot. The City Council will vote today whether to simply pass the proposed ordinance or put the matter before voters.

“My prediction is that the city council will vote no and set it for an election,” said Anthony Johnson, a University of Missouri-Columbia law student who wrote the proposed ordinance.

Johnson, who is also president of the campus chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he believes the community will pass the ordinance by a narrow margin.

The proposed ordinance would reduce the penalty for those caught with 35 grams or less of marijuana from up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine to no jail time and a fine of $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second office, $100 for a third offense and $500 on subsequent offenses. Such cases also would be referred to the city prosecutor, instead of state courts.

City Councilman John John said he worries that passing the ordinance would send a message of tolerance to young people.

“This would create two problems. One, it encourages the use of marijuana and two, you’ve got to get it to use it,” John said. “Ultimately, distribution would also be encouraged.”

Councilman Bob Hutton said he worries about the legal implications of amending city laws to legalize something deemed illegal by state and federal statutes.

“The part I would be most in favor of is the medicinal use, but I don’t think we could do it because of state law,” Hutton said. “The city can’t make an ordinance for something that is against state law.”

As for the rest of the petition, Hutton said he had a couple problems.

“I’m not dead set against it. The only problem I have is that the fines are very small,” Hutton said.

Johnson said he wrote the ordinance after learning that University of Missouri students could lose their federal financial aid if convicted of a drug offense through state courts.