Ballot Proposal Would Legalize Cannabis
To "improve patient access" & legalize if the Feds legalize it
Here’s yet another proposal submitted to AG Tim Griffin’s office for approval to be included on our 2024 ballot. The proponent, Arkansans for Patient Access, turned in language for the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024 on Friday.
Saying it would improve patient access to medical cannabis, the proposal is another take on legalizing the drug in Arkansas for recreational use: it would make it legal for patients to grow marijuana at home and change parts of Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, which legalized medical marijuana in Arkansas.
In the proposal, the Arkansans for Patient Access have put together what’s called a “wishlist for patients as well as cultivators and dispensaries.”
The goal of this ballot proposal is to reaffirm and build upon Amendment 98 to better serve patients … This amendment reflects a commitment to the principles established by the state’s voters. It reduces barriers and streamlines processes so qualifying patients can access the medicines and treatment options that best serve them.
— Amy Martin, owner of The Greenery dispensary in Fort Smith
Griffin’s office has rejected over 16 different proposals for the 2024 ballot from various ballot question groups, both conservative and Left-leaning. Let’s see how this submission comes out.
TalkBusiness reports:
The 2024 Patient Access Amendment “includes changes to definitions, eligibility criteria, and regulations, including:
“Replacing the definition of “physician” with “health care practitioner,” which includes medical and osteopathic doctors, nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants, and pharmacists;
“Removing language requiring a physician-patient relationship from the definition of “written certification” and to allow assessments in person or by telemedicine;
“Extending the expiration date of medical marijuana registry identification cards from one to three years and to add two additional years to the expiration of date of existing cards;
“Removing requirements for a “qualifying medical condition” and to add language defining such a condition as including any condition not otherwise specified in Amendment 98 that a health care practitioner considers debilitating to a patient that might be alleviated by medical marijuana; and
“Allowing qualifying patients or caregivers at least 21 years old to keep and to plant marijuana plants in limited quantities and sizes at their domicile solely for the personal use of a qualifying patient. It prohibits the sale, bartering, and trade of such marijuana plants, and the Alcohol Beverage Control Division would regulate this qualification.”