Arkansas Attorney General Approves Revised Medical Marijuana Expansion Initiative

“We’re confident that Arkansans are going to vote in favor of the amendment.”

By Hunter Field, Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas’s cannabis industry, along with patient advocates, can start collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment that would increase the accessibility of medical marijuana.

The Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, approved the ballot language late on Tuesday after several revisions.

To put the amendment up for a vote at the general election on November 5, supporters have until the 5th of July to collect 90,704 valid signatures.

Bill Paschall is the executive director of Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association, and a member Arkansans for Patient Access. The ballot question committee that backed the proposal said patient advocates, and those working in the cannabis industry, are ready to argue for the amendment.

He said: “We’re confident that Arkansans are going to respond positively, and vote in favor of the proposed amendment. It will remove the barriers for obtaining a card and eliminate the hassles associated with annual renewals. Patients will also have more choices.”

Retail restrictions on certain products, such as pre-rolled joint, would be removed. The proposal also allows patients to grow marijuana at home.

Technical tweaks were made to the title of the ballot and the popular name Arkansans for patient access submitted February 5, by the AG. The biggest change was the replacement of “cannabis,” in the title, with “medical cannabis.”

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment 2024 will replace the proposed Amendment.

“Cannabis can be used to refer to either what is regulated in this country–‘usable marijuana,’ or marijuana –or to something that is not regulated– hemp …,”. Griffin wrote. In my opinion,’medical cannabis’ is more accurate to describe your proposed measure. “I am therefore substituting and certifying the popular name that is’more appropriate’.”

Paschall said that the attorneys of the ballot group were concerned with the length substitute ballot title certified to the Attorney General, but the group decided after much deliberation to accept the proposal. In previous election cycles, opponents have used legal challenges to challenge the length of the ballot title.

The initiative aims to build upon Amendment 98 of the Arkansas Constitution which Arkansans voted to approve in 2016, to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The main changes proposed are:

Patients and designated caregivers older than 21 years old can grow up to 7 mature marijuana plants and 7 younger plants.
Physician assistants, nurse practitioner and pharmacists can now certify patients to receive medical marijuana cards.
Allowing providers to qualify their patients based on medical needs rather than the 18 conditions currently required by state law.
Telemedicine allows health care providers the ability to assess patients via telemedicine.
Expanding access for out-of-state patients by accepting patient cards from another state or allowing non-residents to get Arkansas patient cards.
Patients who want to register ID cards will no longer be charged any fees.
The expiration date of new patient cards will be increased from one to three years.
The removal of the prohibition on the sale and manufacture of paraphernalia which requires the “combustion of marijuana”.

The proposal also includes a recreational cannabis trigger, which would allow adults to possess an ounce of marijuana if the federal government removed marijuana from its Schedule of Controlled Substances.

Since weeks , rumors have circulated regarding a White House decision.

The Arkansas initiative also amends Article 5 of Arkansas Constitution, which prohibits the General Assembly to make changes to constitutional amendments unless the people vote on it.

This article was originally published by Arkansas Advocate.