Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Tuesday approved the ballot wording for a proposed constitutional amendment to expand access to medical marijuana.
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 would allow more healthcare professionals to prescribe the drug and vastly expand the conditions that marijuana would be allowed to treat. Bill Paschall, executive director of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association and a member of Arkansans for Patient Access, the ballot question committee behind the proposal, said patient advocates and people working in the industry are ready to make the case for the amendment. We are confident that Arkansans will respond positively and ultimately vote for the proposed amendment because it will reduce barriers to obtaining a medical marijuana card, eliminate the annual renewal hassle and give patients more product choices, Paschall said.
The measure would also recognize medical marijuana patients from other states and increase the expiration date of patients’ cards from one year to three years. Also in the proposal is a trigger law that would make marijuana recreational if the federal government removes the drug from the controlled substances list or if the federal crime of marijuana possession goes away.
Attorney General Tim Griffin initially rejected the first submission in January due to what he called ambiguities and “misleading” language. His approval clears the way for Arkansans for Patient Access to begin collecting the 90,704 signatures required by July 5th for their next step in the ballot inclusion process.
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