Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin rejected language for a cannabis ballot initiative advocates hope to place before voters in the November election.
The Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024, sponsored by Arkansans for Patient Access, is a constitutional amendment that aims to expand access for patients, but would also automatically legalize adult-use cannabis in Arkansas should it be legalized at the federal level.
Griffin on Jan. 29 decided that the ballot title for the measure was insufficient due to improper formatting, the Arkansas Advocate reported, as well as ambiguities about how the proposed amendment would impact the state’s existing state laws and regulations surrounding cannabis.
Perhaps most notably, the proposal would legalize home grow for Arkansas’ medical cannabis patients and caregivers, allowing them to cultivate up to seven mature plants and seven immature plants at their private residence for personal use.
The measure would make several additional changes to Amendment 98, the measure that Arkansas voters approved in 2016 to legalize medical cannabis in the state, according to the Arkansas Advocate, including:
- Allowing physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists to certify patients for medical cannabis;
- Allowing health care providers to certify patients for medical cannabis based on medical need rather than for only the state’s current list of 18 qualifying conditions;
- Allowing health care providers to use telemedicine to conduct patient assessments;
- Recognizing medical cannabis ID cards from other states and allowing nonresidents to participate in Arkansas’ medical cannabis program;
- Eliminating medical cannabis ID card application fees for patients; and
- Extending the expiration date from one year to three years for new patient ID cards.
The proposed amendment would also establish a trigger law that would allow adults to possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis if the federal government deschedules cannabis or legalizes cannabis possession in the future.
In his opinion, Griffin noted that a section of the measure that addresses cannabis business advertising restrictions does not sufficiently identify which set of Arkansas regulations are being referenced, the Arkansas Advocate reported.
Griffin also said the proposal’s authors failed to define several terms included in the measure, according to the news outlet, and said a section aimed at preventing lawmakers from changing the amendment, should it pass, was unclear.
Following Griffin’s determination this week, advocates plan to revise the ballot measure and resubmit it to the attorney general’s office, the Arkansas Advocate reported.
Groups seeking to place initiatives on this year’s ballot have a July 5 deadline to gather 90,704 signatures to qualify their proposals for the November ballot. Signature gathering cannot begin until the attorney general approves the ballot title and popular name.
Erika Gee, an attorney representing Arkansas for Patient Access, told the Arkansas Advocate that the group believes its measure will ultimately reach the ballot.
“Arkansans for Patient Access is reviewing Attorney General Tim Griffin’s ballot proposal opinion,” Gee said. “We intend to address the issues raised and resubmit. We are confident ballot language will be presented that ultimately gains approval.”
