Anti-medical marijuana advocates said Thursday their message won't change, but more messengers will carry it.
The message is that the two medical marijuana ballot measures approved for the Nov. 8 ballots are "recreational marijuana hiding behind medical terms," Jerry Cox, executive director of the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, said during a news conference. Backers of the ballot measures say their aim is helping patients.
"It's largely the same message, because these are largely the same measures we had in 2012," Cox said. "They were bad for those reasons then and it's bad now for the same reasons."
Anti-medical marijuana advocates include Arkansas Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe, Arkansas Farm Bureau, the state Department of Health, the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and others.
"The fact that you have more voices -- and I would say more credible voices than mine -- saying that this is not medicine, that it's bad, and we don't need to support this -- I think that really helps the effort," Cox said. "I don't know how many different ways we can say 'bad.'"
Back in 2012, when a medical marijuana initiated act received 49 percent of the popular vote, there was little organized opposition. At the time, Cox led the Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values, which opposed the act. The group spoke out against the act, filed a lawsuit to prevent votes from being counted and ran a television advertisement.
This year, Cox said he hopes to deploy advocates such as Bledsoe across the state. Arkansas Against Legalized Marijuana, of which Cox is a member, has filed a lawsuit against both medical marijuana ballot measures.
Advertisements are "optional as funds permit," according to a news release. Asked whether the group lacked funding, Cox said some funding may flow to other groups.
Bledsoe, who serves as spokesman for Arkansans Against Legalized Marijuana, said Tuesday the group is raising funds for television and radio advertisements.
"We're just kind of seeing how things unfold," Cox said.
Both the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment and the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act were approved for the Nov. 8 ballot by Secretary of State Mark Martin's office. Both face lawsuits to keep votes from being counted.
Both proposals would allow the drug to be used to treat patients under the direction of a doctor, but they differ in their approaches. For example, the act would allow patients who meet certain standards to grow their own marijuana. The amendment does not contain a grow-your-own provision. Both proposals would allow marijuana to be made available through dispensaries.
Bledsoe, David Couch, a Little Rock-based lawyer backing the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, and Melissa Fults, campaign manager for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, are set to attend an "educational panel" to discuss the measures at Northwest Arkansas Community College on Oct. 18.
Couch said Thursday his proposal addressed many of the complaints Cox raised in 2012.
"The No. 1 thing he complained about in 2012 was people being able to grow their own medical marijuana," he said. "I eliminated grow; increased the distance between dispensaries and churches, schools, day cares; limited the number of dispensaries and provided for a local option."
Fults said Cox's argument is "the same song and dance that they've used for the last five years and it truly is an insult to the voters of Arkansas."
"It amazes me that pain doctors can diagnose pain and prescribe opioids, muscle relaxers and antispasmodics. Doctors can diagnose nausea and prescribe narcotics," she said. "Yet, when a doctor feels like a cannabis would be a better treatment, that suddenly can't be prescribed."
Metro on 09/09/2016