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Chloe’ Strickland
Gina Shelton
News Reporting 1
26 October 2016

The Legalization of Medical Marijuana in Arkansas

Arkansas voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to legalize prescribed use of medical
marijuana.

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, commonly referred to as Issue 6, would

allow for the establishment of up to eight marijuana cultivation factories and up to 40
marijuana dispensaries.

Arkansas voters narrowly rejected the legalization of medical marijuana four years ago.

There are 17 medical conditions covered in this initiative that would qualify patients for
the treatment of medical marijuana including cancer, arthritis and Tourette’s syndrome.

Seth Cagle, a University of Arkansas student, was diagnosed in junior high with
Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary tics and
vocalizations. “I think it could be a good option for treating my tics without all the
negative side effects you get from prescription drugs,” Cagle said.

Lauren Redican, who is on staff at the New Life Church in Fayetteville, said she is on the
fence when it comes to the initiative. “It makes me nervous that the systems we put in
place to ensure the proper use of the medical marijuana may be taken advantage of. If a
doctor overprescribes medical marijuana, this could just get crazy.”

“On the other hand, I 100 percent believe that someone in pain should have the relief they
deserve, so this is going to be a tough decision,” Redican said.
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Arkansans Against Legalized Marijuana is a coalition including the state Chamber of

Commerce and the Arkansas Farm Bureau. One opponent of the legalization of medical
marijuana is Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe, who was featured in an ad in opposition of
the initiative. He said that, although there are some compounds in marijuana that could
potentially help patients with seizures, the proposal goes too far. “This is just drugs, not
medicine,” Bledsoe said.

Attorney David Couch of Little Rock, writer and sponsor of the amendment, told the
Arkansas News Bureau “if a physician believes it is appropriate for his patient, then
that’s his medical judgment. It should be respected.”

The Arkansas Department of Health would use an electronic database to keep track of
each patient’s marijuana usage. The Alcohol Beverage Control Division would be
responsible for making sure each medical marijuana dispensary is up to codes and
regulations.

In 1996, California became the first state to allow medical cannabis. According to
fortune.com, Colorado’s legal marijuana sales grew more than 40 percent to nearly $1
billion in 2015, which created more than $135 million in revenue from taxes and fees.
This revenue was then put toward school construction and other public projects. Today,
Medical marijuana is legal in 25 states, along with the legalization of cannabis oil in an
additional 15.

State and local taxes on sales would be applied to medical marijuana. The only way for
medical marijuana to be made illegal once again would be by voter approval.

Although marijuana is illegal at the national level, federal law enforcement is often not as
strict against the states in which marijuana is legal. In December 2014, Congress passed a
law prohibiting federal agents from raiding medical marijuana growers in states where
medical marijuana is legal, effectively allowing states to legalize medical marijuana.
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“Medical marijuana represents change and that’s difficult for a lot of people,” said
George Shelton, founder and principal at Company Politics. “It is an issue that touches
people very deeply, and a conversation that will be with us for the rest of your lifetime.”

There was a second more sweeping proposal on the ballot that would have allowed
patients living more than 20 miles away from a dispensary to grow their own marijuana
plants, but the Supreme Court took it off the ballot.