ARKANSAS, USA — There were five recreational marijuana petitions filed with the Arkansas Secretary of State but now there are just two. They are all out canvassing across the state in hopes of getting enough signatures to get on the November ballot.
“I think it’s a safer drug than alcohol. I think there are a lot worse things that are being prescribed by doctors right now,” Jesse Raphael said.
The group Arkansas True Grass is collecting signatures for their petition, the Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2022. In their amendment, anyone over 21 would be able to grow up to 12 marijuana plants in their home. It would also require anyone with a non-violent cannabis offense to be released from jail and have any previous or current record for the same offense be expunged from your record.
Jesse Raphael says there are a lot of people who do not want to get a medical marijuana card.
“They are afraid of being put on a registry. They are afraid of losing their gun rights," he said. "They are afraid of various things, so they still go to the black market for their medicine. By opening it up to recreational you won’t have those issues anymore and they’ll be able to go in and purchase without problem."
Click here for more information from Arkansas True Grass.
The other amendment is the Arkansas Adult-Use Cannabis Amendment from the group Responsible Growth Arkansas. Eddie Armstrong is the chairman and says their amendment does not allow for home growing to protect children. Their amendment also would remove the tax from medical marijuana patients and shift it to people buying it for recreational use. He says they would add 40 dispensaries across the state and 20 more craft grow facilities.
“With those craft grow facilities you’ll see opportunities for lower yield, higher quality, better products from some patients that may need it in the medical space and or those recreational patients that would like to purchase it,” said Armstrong.
Chairman of Responsible Growth Arkansas, Eddie Armstrong says support for recreational marijuana is growing across the country and they are excited to bring their amendment to Arkansans.
“We believe legalizing adult-use cannabis in Arkansas will allow for Arkansans to make their own decisions when it comes to the usage of cannabis and more importantly allowing for opportunities to grant funding to law enforcement and healthcare,” he said.
Both groups have until July to collect just over 89,000 signatures and say they are halfway there. The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission says since the first medical marijuana dispensary opened in May of 2019, Arkansas has collected $65 million in tax revenue. They say on average Arkansans are spending $22 million a month on medical marijuana.
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