Backers of an initiated act to legalize medical marijuana became the first group this year to submit signatures for a ballot proposal when they delivered petitions to the Arkansas secretary of state's office Monday.
The petitions, bearing about 117,000 signatures, were submitted almost three weeks ahead of the July 8 state deadline. The next step is for validation by the secretary of state's office; 67,887 signatures from at least 15 different counties are needed for an initiated act to land on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
During a news conference, Melissa Fults, campaign manager for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, told about 75 supporters that their work had made the achievement possible.
Standing behind dozens of boxes filled with signatures sheets, she called out David Couch, a Little Rock-based attorney, who is sponsoring a rival proposal -- a constitutional amendment -- that would also legalize medical marijuana. A third proposed amendment would legalize all use of marijuana.
"Placing another cannabis proposal on the ballot will absolutely cause both to fail and the sick and dying patients of Arkansas cannot afford to lose this battle," Fults said. "This is too critical."
Couch said he is "absolutely not" dropping out.
"I don't accept her notion that if both get on the ballot, both fail," he said. "If you support medical marijuana, just vote for both of them."
He said he's collected about 50,000 signatures that have been validated through a third party. He needs 84,859 valid signatures for his constitutional amendment to make the ballot.
Immediately after Arkansans for Compassionate Care's news conference, Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council Action Committee, and Larry Page, executive director of the Arkansas Committee for Ethics Policy, held a news conference of their own to decry the ballot measures from both Fults and Couch.
Cox said the medical-marijuana proposals are back doors for recreational use. He also decried a grow-your-own provision in the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, the proposal offered by Arkansans for Compassionate Care.
"This issue was the main concern that voters had in 2012 when this same measure was defeated by the people of Arkansas," Cox said. "They've left that in there -- that's one of the most egregious parts of this measure."
The grow-your-own provision was why Fults and Couch split after the 2012 election, when they worked together on the 2012 medical-marijuana measure that fell just short of approval by voters.
Under Fults' proposal, a patient with a "Hardship Cultivation Certificate" would be allowed to grow up to 10 cannabis plants in an enclosed, locked facility. A caregiver would be allowed to cultivate the plants.
The hardship certificates would be provided by the Arkansas Department of Health "based on documentation of the Qualifying Patient's lack of access to a Nonprofit Cannabis Care Center," according to the proposal. Nonprofit centers would serve as dispensaries.
Couch has said the state is not ready for the grow-your-own provision. He said his proposal focuses on security.
His proposed amendment does not specify how dispensaries can be run, but it would limit the number to 40 in the state. The Alcoholic Beverage Control agency of the Department of Finance and Administration would inspect the dispensaries.
Regardless of the specific provisions in the law, Page said smoked marijuana is not medicine.
"The fact that a substance might block pain does not of itself make that a medicine," he said. "So smoked marijuana is clearly not medicine. You can't measure a dosage. What do you do, smoke two joints and call me in the morning?"
But supporters of the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act said marijuana is useful -- and in some cases essential -- medicine.
Emily Williams, a cancer survivor, said chemotherapy left her unable to keep food down and in incredible pain. Anti-nausea medicines had no effect on her.
So "people who loved me very much brought to me illegal, street marijuana," Williams said.
She smoked the marijuana and 15 minutes later, she said, she felt much better.
"I thanked those benefactors who love me. I walked upstairs with no nausea, no pain. I showered, I went to bed and I slept," Williams said. "That sounds so incredibly mundane, but it was such an incredible relief."
Tamara Langley-Higdon, a volunteer with Arkansans for Compassionate Care, said she was just 15 when she broke her back and injured her spinal cord. She now uses a wheelchair.
Despite her injuries, she said she received a bachelor's degree, served on the Governor's Commission on People With Disabilities and was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Arkansas 2006.
She takes 21 prescription pills per day, but said 17 of them could be replaced with medical marijuana.
"There is no way to convey what that could possibly mean for me and for so many others throughout the states," she said. "Give me my life back."
Cox said that if cannabis can help patients, it needs to be delivered in a method outside of smoking that does not make people high. He said he isn't opposed to a measure that allows medical use of a cannabis-derived drug that contains little to no THC.
He provided a list of marijuana-related incidents, including fatal car crashes where marijuana was cited as a factor.
He said the list of illnesses for which marijuana could be given -- which includes anxiety and pain -- are easily faked.
Cox also criticized the funding for both measures.
Arkansans for Compassionate Care has raised $125,850, according to its latest financial report. It received $25,000 from the Drug Policy Alliance; $25,000 from the Marijuana Policy Project; and $12,500 from New Approaches Political Action Committee. The group has been fundraising since 2014 and has taken in between $800 and $37,961 per month.
Though about half the money has come from New York and Washington, D.C., the group's fundraising effort sells T-shirts, flags, banners and bumper stickers locally, Fults said.
Arkansans United for Medical Marijuana, which was formed by Couch and is backing the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, has raised $105,000, according to its latest financial report. It's funded entirely by the Bevans Family Limited Partnership. The partnership's address matches that of Lake Liquor in Maumelle.
A Section on 06/21/2016