“It streamlines and reduces barriers so that qualifying patients can have access to the medicines and treatments they need.”
By Hunter Field, Arkansas Advocate
On Friday, a marijuana industry group proposed a constitutional change to improve access to medical cannabis for patients and to legalize the drug in Arkansas for recreational use should it become legal under federal law.
Arkansans for Patient Access announced that it would be submitting ballot language for the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment 2024 to Arkansas Attorney-General Tim Griffin (R).
The ballot initiative will make it legal for patients grow their own cannabis in the home. It also makes a number of changes to Amendment 98, which was ratified by Arkansans in 2016 for legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.
The tweaks are a wish list for patients, cultivators, and dispensaries.
Amy Martin, owner The Greenery dispensary, Fort Smith, stated in a statement by the ballot question committee that “the goal of this ballot proposition is to reaffirm Amendment 98 and to build on it to better serve patients.” This amendment is a commitment to principles set by voters in the state. It streamlines the processes and reduces obstacles so that patients who qualify can get access to the best treatment and medicines.
The major changes proposed include:
- 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 residents 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 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.
The Biden administration is considering moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III .
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Schedule III drugs include substances such as anabolic steroids or ketamine which have “a moderately low potential for psychological and physical dependence” but have medical applications.
According to the DEA, Schedule I drugs are “drugs that have no currently accepted medical uses and a potential for abuse.”
The trigger provision would limit commercial growth and distribution to those dispensaries and cultivation facilities currently licensed by Arkansas’s medical cannabis law. A similar clause in an Arkansas recreational amendment proposed by the industry was voted down in the 2022 ballot.
Melissa Fults, a patient advocate and attorney David Couch (who drafted Amendment 98) have publicly stated their opposition to the 2022 effort. However, they support Arkansans for Patient Access in its current efforts.
The group claimed to have submitted the measure on Friday. However, a spokesman stated that the office had not received it by 3:30 pm.
The attorney general will have 10 working days to review and approve the ballot language for the November ballot.
Canvassers will have until the 5th of July to collect 90,704 valid signatures to be eligible for ballot access.
This article was originally published by Arkansas Advocate.
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The article Arkansas Ballot Initiative Allows Medical Marijuana to be Homegrown and Triggers Recreational Legalization after Federal Reform first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
