Supporters of recreational marijuana look forward to future efforts

Arkansas factions contemplate Missouri initiative’s success

Michael Stonebarger sorts young cannabis plants at a marijuana farm operated by Greenlight in Grandview, Mo., in this Oct. 31, 2022 file photo. (AP/Charlie Riedel)
Michael Stonebarger sorts young cannabis plants at a marijuana farm operated by Greenlight in Grandview, Mo., in this Oct. 31, 2022 file photo. (AP/Charlie Riedel)

Arkansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana on the same night a neighboring state approved its legal cannabis measure, leading some officials to question whether Tuesday night's defeat jeopardizes the future of legal marijuana efforts within Arkansas.

With 97.3% of votes counted, unofficial totals Wednesday were:

Against 499,843

For 388,574

Passage of the amendment, also known as Issue 4, would have meant those 21 or older would have been able to legally purchase and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana in Arkansas. If the ballot measure had passed, the state could have started issuing licenses to sell recreational marijuana to 120 dispensaries, including the 38 that already are licensed to sell medical marijuana. Up to 20 growers also could have received licenses to grow cannabis for recreational use.

Responsible Growth Arkansas, which led the legalization campaign, raised $13 million and spent millions on ads emphasizing that tax from the legalization of marijuana would go toward funding police and cancer research. A majority of its funding came from the medical marijuana industry within the state.

Eddie Armstrong, chairman of Responsible Growth Arkansas, said Wednesday that he is proud the initiative was carried forward for Arkansans.

"It was unfortunate that politics got in the middle of it," he said. "There is much work to be done for the countless number of people that are still penalized for the possession of marijuana in the Bible Belt South."

Numerous conservative groups, including the Family Council Action Committee and Safe and Secure Communities, campaigned heavily against the amendment, claiming that legalizing recreational use of marijuana would exacerbate the state's problems with addiction.

Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council Action Committee, said Wednesday that he believes Arkansas voters saw through all the smoke and mirrors that proponents of Issue 4 put forth.

"They spent millions of dollars, maybe over $15 million, to convince the people of Arkansas that legalizing recreational marijuana and putting special interests groups into our state constitution is good for anyone."

Some of Arkansas' leading marijuana advocates, including Melissa Fults and David Couch, also campaigned against Issue 4.

"I was pleased, but it also saddened me that an amendment was so bad that they had to reject it," Fults said about the recreational marijuana amendment. "I don't think they rejected legalization, they just rejected Issue 4.

"I feel that if people see a fair one they will vote it in with no problems."

Fults said she understood the irony of working with anti-marijuana groups.

"It was one of those 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' The amendment was so bad that I couldn't in good conscience support it in any shape or fashion," she said. "I hadn't spoken to David in six years, and for sure never agreed with Jerry on anything. But when Issue 4 came out we decided we can all work separately or all work together."

Cox said he spoke with Couch and Fults about being potential adversaries in the future.

"We realized if we didn't get together and fight it as a team that it would pass," he said. "I would attribute a large portion of the 'no' vote on Issue 4 to the fact that David Couch and Melissa Fults spoke up."

Arkansas was one of five states to put recreational marijuana on the ballot this year. Legal marijuana was approved by voters in Maryland and Missouri and was rejected in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Armstrong said the legalization of marijuana in Missouri will affect revenue that could have come into Arkansas.

"You will see cannabis coming in from all four regions in the next few years," he said. "That is something for the politicians of Arkansas to take into consideration, but this is what they wanted."

Armstrong declined to comment on any future plans to attempt to get the issue back on the ballot.

Fults acknowledged that for about two years Arkansans will probably spend money in Missouri to take advantage of its legalization there.

"For right now the only alternative is Missouri," she said. "If Issue 4 weren't so greedy it could have been here."

Fults said she will work alongside Couch and others to create a new recreational amendment for the 2024 ballot.

"We will work for a fair and equitable amendment and get it passed and give people the legalization that they need," she said. "...David and I haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things, but we both agree that we need a fair, equitable amendment."

Fults said the a new recreational marijuana amendment would include expungement of criminal records, home-grow and a competitive marijuana industry.

"If we had voted for Issue 4 we wouldn't have had any of those things. "I know you are disappointed, but we are going to offer something better."

Cox said despite interest in recreational marijuana, he believes future efforts to legalize cannabis in Arkansas are on shaky ground because of Tuesday's result.

"I think it bodes poorly for people that want to legalize recreational in the future because the moneyed interests took their best shot and came up empty," he said. "In the near future it will be difficult for marijuana to have that kind of money to do it again and potentially get the same outcome."

Voters also rejected the three other proposed initiatives on Tuesday's ballot.

Issue 1 would have allowed the state Legislature to call itself back into session; Issue 2 would have changed the threshold to pass ballot measures from a simple majority to 60%; and Issue 3 would have prohibited state and local governments from burdening people's ability to practice their religion unless there was a compelling reason to do so.

ISSUE 3

In the closest ballot issue race of the night, Arkansans rejected the initiative commonly referred to as the religious freedom amendment.

With 97.3% of votes reported, unofficial returns Wednesday were:

Against 436,240

For 428,576

The proposed amendment was put forth by the Arkansas General Assembly, with Republicans Sen. Jason Rapert of Conway and Rep. Jimmy Gazaway of Paragould sponsoring measures in the House and Senate to recommend it to the voters.

The amendment had the backing of many conservative religious groups who argued the state's constitution needed more protections after government-instituted church closures during the covid-19 pandemic.

Family Council Action Committee was one of the main supporters of the bill, and Cox pointed to confusion around the amendment as the reason for its defeat.

"There were two groups that voted against it," he said. "One group has the philosophy of the ACLU, who are against anything that expands religious freedoms, then you had a group of conservative and Christian individuals that became confused by Issue 3. They listened to political pundits online and elsewhere spread a lot of misinformation about Issue 3."

Cox said some conservative Christian pundits told people that Issue 3 was adding government burden on religious freedom, when it was meant to do the opposite.

He said the government has always had the legal right to substantially burden freedom of religion, and that the proposed amendment simply would have dialed it back.

"When voters saw the (burden) in the amendment they immediately went to vaccine mandates, mask mandates and closing of churches," he said. "It was actually making it harder to close a church and more difficult for a mask mandate."

Dickson said Issue 3 would have intruded on civil rights.

"Arkansans sent a clear message against the extreme intrusion of politicians in our civil rights and rejected many politicians' knee-jerk reactions to complex problems," she said in a statement Wednesday. "With some votes remaining to be reported, it appears that Arkansas voters prevented Issue 3, what would have been among the most extreme religious freedom amendments, from becoming law."

ISSUE 2

Voters also rejected the effort to change the threshold needed to pass ballot questions.

With 97.3% of the vote counted, unofficial returns were:

Against 506,392

For 349,702

Republican state Rep. David Ray of Maumelle led the campaign in favor of the amendment, describing it as a needed check on an amendment process gone too far.

"From the results of the other three issues on the ballot, it doesn't seem like voters were in much of a mood to approve any of them [Tuesday] night," he said.

Protect AR Rights, a nonpartisan coalition who fought against Issue 2, said the amendment was an attempt to eliminate the democratic principle of one person, one vote in Arkansas, by allowing just 41% of voters to block issues.

"We put an amazing campaign together, and it took all of us," Bill Kopsky, executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said in a statement. "Because of volunteers and the campaign they ran, our core talking point remains true: Arkansans have the right and ability to make decisions on the issues that affect their lives, even when politicians won't. Arkansas remains where the people rule."

ISSUE 1

A proposed amendment that would have allowed the state General Assembly to call itself into special session also went down.

With 97.3% of the vote counted, unofficial returns were:

Against 517,387

For 331,747

The proposed amendment would have given power to the state Legislature to call a special session. Currently, only the governor has the power to call lawmakers back into a special session.

Under the Arkansas Constitution, in odd-numbered years lawmakers meet for a regular session that begins in January and typically lasts into the spring. A fiscal session is held in even-numbered years. It's typically a shorter session where lawmakers focus on appropriation bills.

Outside of its regular and fiscal sessions, the state Legislature can meet only when the governor calls lawmakers back to the state Capitol to consider a specific list of issues.

If Issue 1 had been approved, the speaker of the House and president of the Senate could have jointly decided to call lawmakers back. Or the General Assembly could have gone into a special session if at least two-thirds of lawmakers from the House and Senate signed a proclamation calling for a special session.

The state Legislature referred the amendment to the ballot, with Sen. Breanne Davis of Russellville and Rep. Frances Cavanaugh of Walnut Ridge, both Republicans, sponsoring the bill in the House and Senate.


  photo  Issue 3: How Arkansas voted
 
 


  photo  Issue 4: How Arkansas voted
 
 


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