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The Arkansas Supreme Court decided in a narrow 4-3 ruling that votes in favor of and against a plan to broaden the state’s medical cannabis program would not be taken into account. Protect Arkansas Kids, a nonprofit that joined the legal fight against the amendment—Issue 3, filed a case that resulted in this decision. The votes cast on Issue 3 will be ignored, even though it will still be on the ballot in November.
The amendment sought to introduce several modifications to the state’s medical cannabis system, which was initially approved in 2016. It sought to ease licensing rules, widen the range of qualifying illnesses and medical professionals authorized to prescribe cannabis as well as permit patients to grow their marijuana at home.
However, in its decision, the court rejected Secretary of State John Thurston’s initial complaint. The main argument of the complaint focused on paid canvassers’ training requirements. Thurston contended that the group supporting the proposal, Arkansans for Patient Access, did not reach the required 90,704 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot due to non-compliance with state laws related to canvassers’ training.
In his majority opinion, Justice Shawn Womack supported a second legal complaint that argued the proposal’s ballot title and popular name were inadequate. Justice Womack also objected to a clause in Issue 3 that would have permitted the holding of up to one ounce of cannabis if it were to be legalized federally. He argued that this provision was misleading, as it would apply even to those without a medical cannabis prescription, contradicting the popular name, which solely references medical cannabis.
Womack was joined in the majority opinion by Justices Bilenda Harris-Ritter, Barbara Womack Webb, and Don Curdie.
Meanwhile, Justices Cody Hiland, Rhonda Wood, and Karen Baker dissented from the majority ruling. Hiland contended that the initiative’s ballot title and popular name were neither insufficient nor misleading. He argued that the court’s long-standing legal standard for determining the sufficiency of ballot titles had been disregarded in this case and that voters should have been allowed to decide on the initiative.
Arkansans for Patient Access expressed disappointment over the court’s decision, calling it a setback for the state’s medical cannabis program. They reaffirmed their commitment to removing barriers for patients and reducing costs while accusing anti-cannabis politicians of ignoring the will of the people.
Conversely, Protect Arkansas Kids praised the ruling describing the ballot initiative as misleading. They claimed it was part of a broader effort by the cannabis industry to legalize potent, addictive drugs under the pretense of medicine.
The ruling is likely to be a disappointment to the broader cannabis industry, including firms from across the border like Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) (TSX: CRON) since the issues that the ballot measure was seeking to address will persist until the next election cycle when campaigners can launch another attempt to enact change.
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