Group Gets $1.75 Million for Campaign to Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Arkansas

Marijuana

Recently five companies each contributed $350,000 toward an effort to place a recreational marijuana measure on Arkansas’ 2022 ballot.

The five donations to the pro-marijuana group Responsible Growth Arkansas totaled $1.75 million to promote recreational marijuana in Arkansas this year.

According to filings with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, the donations came from:

  • Bold Team, LLC, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas
  • Good Day Farms Arkansas, LLC, in Rogers
  • Osage Creek Cultivation, LLC, in Berryville
  • DMCC, LLC in Jonesboro
  • NSMC-OPCO, LLC, in White Hall

In October, Responsible Growth Arkansas filed statements with the Arkansas Ethics Commission indicating it would work to amend the Arkansas Constitution to permit recreational marijuana. Former Arkansas lawmaker Eddie Armstrong reportedly is leading the effort.

According to the Arkansas Secretary of State, Responsible Growth Arkansas has until Friday, July 8, 2022, to collect 89,151 valid petition signatures from registered voters in order to place a recreational marijuana measure on the November ballot.

Researchers have found time and again that marijuana is dangerous.

Scientists have linked marijuana use with violence, psychosis, schizophrenia, depression and suicide.

A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal last year found adults under age 45 who frequently used marijuana were roughly twice as likely to suffer heart attack as adults who did not use marijuana.

Last spring a study out of California found infants were 35% more likely to die within a year of birth if their mother used marijuana heavily; the study also found that infants were more likely to be born preterm, have a low birth weight, and be small for their gestational age.

A report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that states that legalized commercial marijuana sales saw self-harm rates rise by 46% among men ages 21 to 39.

The list goes on and on.

All of this underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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Atheist Group Chides Governor Hutchinson for Quoting Bible Verses on Facebook

Religious Freedom, ,
Above: Governor Hutchinson signs the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law in this file photo from 2015.

Recently the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson chiding him for posting Bible verses on his official Facebook page every Sunday.

The group posted a soundbite on social media, saying, “Freedom of religion is freedom WITHOUT Favor. Our government represents ALL citizens, regardless of faith or belief.”

Governor Hutchinson has routinely shared verses of scripture on his official Facebook page since he was inaugurated in 2015.

Here’s an example of one of the passages that he posted recently from the Psalms:

Unfortunately, atheist organizations have a long history of saber rattling in Arkansas.

In 2017 the atheist group the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Governor Hutchinson asking him to stop posting scripture every Sunday, but Governor Hutchinson has continued to do so. To date, no one has sued the governor for sharing Bible verses online each week.

In 2016 Americans United for Separation of Church and State unsuccessfully opposed a 40 Days of Prayer event in in El Dorado.

And in 2011 Americans United for Separation of Church and State fought to remove a Nativity scene from a bulletin board at a school in Paragould.

The truth is that elected officials don’t lose their First Amendment freedoms.

By most accounts, the Bible is the single most widely-read book in the history of human civilization, and public speakers, writers, and elected officials have quoted it routinely for centuries.

The President of the United States typically takes the Oath of Office on a Bible.

Elected officials often share well-known, popular, or inspirational quotes via their official social media accounts.

In light of that, why shouldn’t an elected official be able to post a Bible verse on Facebook?

It’s ridiculous to suggest that posting Bible verses on Facebook violates the U.S. Constitution. However, that seems to be what Americans United for Separation of Church and State is doing.

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