Breakthrough Breakfast
EPIC’s next Breakthrough Breakfast will be at 9:00am next Tuesday, October 21st at Southeast Missouri State University in the University Center, Ballroom B (fourth floor). This will be the second Breakthrough Breakfast in a two part series on marijuana. EPIC would like to thank the Office of Addictions in the Department of Nursing at Southeast Missouri State university for sponsoring both of these breakfast events for us. The specific topic of the upcoming Breakthrough Breakfast will be legislative issues and proposed legislative issues in Missouri related to marijuana. Speakers will be sharing about their opposing views on marijuana legalization, why they support or oppose legalization and how they feel their viewpoint is compatible with youth substance abuse prevention. John Payne will be speaking in favor of legalization and Kevin Glaser will be speaking against legalization (speaker bios are included below). As always, there is no charge to attend the event but we do require RSVPs so we can get a head count for breakfast. Please RSVP by emailing coordinator@epicprevention.org by no later that Thursday, October 16th.
If time allows, our regularly scheduled EPIC meeting will take place immediately following the Breakthrough Breakfast presentation.
John Payne:
John Payne received his B.A. in history from Washington University in Saint Louis in 2005. John spent the next four years teaching high school in both rural Missouri and Saint Louis, before leaving to pursue a career combining his passions for public policy and writing. Mr. Payne worked as a research assistant at the Show-Me Institute in Saint Louis, MO, from 2010 through the summer of 2011. He joined Show-Me Cannabis Regulation’s board of directors in November 2011 and served as the Eastern Missouri Campaign Manager during the 2012 campaign. In addition to his duties at Show-Me Cannabis, John serves on the Board of Directors of Alumni for Liberty. His writing has appeared in the Journal of Libertarian Studies, The American Conservative, and Reason Magazine, as well as newspapers across the state of Missouri. In his free time, he bowls, plays rugby, and follows Saint Louis Cardinals baseball religiously.
Kevin J. Glaser, Sergeant
Missouri State Highway Patrol (Ret):
Kevin Glaser has over 34 years of law enforcement experience serving in the State of Missouri, including 24 years experience working in the area of narcotics enforcement. Sgt. Glaser began his law enforcement career as a Deputy Sheriff with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Department in 1979.
In January, 1983 he begin his employment with the Missouri State Highway Patrol as a Trooper, stationed in Sikeston. As a road officer, Trooper Glaser was assigned to the Troop E Drug Interdiction Unit and the Troop E Marijuana Eradication Unit. In 1990 he applied for a position as a narcotics officer within the Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control. As a narcotics investigator for the Highway Patrol, Sgt Glaser conducted undercover drug investigation as well as overt investigations into the distribution of illegal narcotics in Southeast Missouri. He remained in that position initially as an undercover officer and team member of the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force until 1995.
In 1995 Sgt Glaser took over as unit commander of the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force and supervisor of Team 1 of the Patrol’s Narcotics Unit. As commander of the drug task force, Sgt Glaser supervised all drug investigations conducted by the unit. These ranged from street level drug buys to assisting Federal Law Enforcement Agencies in major narcotics investigations that spanned multi state jurisdictions. He remained in that position until his retirement from the Missouri State Highway Patrol in September 2011.
Upon retirement Sgt. Glaser has continued his affiliation with the SEMO Drug Task Force serving as an advisor and training coordinator. Sgt Glaser is a staff instructor with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) based in Tallahassee, Florida and staff instructor for the Southeast Missouri State University Law Enforcement Academy in Cape Girardeau. He has served on the Executive Board of Directors for the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association (MNOA) for the past 5 years and is currently serving as President for the MNOA.