Group Raises Nearly $173K for Marijuana Amendment

Marijuana,

Arkansans for Patient Access has raised nearly $173,000 for its marijuana amendment campaign, according to reports filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

The group has until July 5 to collect 90,704 petition signatures from registered voters to place the marijuana amendment on the ballot.

The amendment would drastically expand Arkansas’ medical marijuana law to enable recreational marijuana statewide. Marijuana users would no longer need to show they suffer from a specific medical condition listed in state law.

The amendment lets people grow and use marijuana at home, making it easier for people to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment also would openly legalize marijuana in Arkansas if federal laws against marijuana are repealed.

Nationwide, since 2019, the number of kids diagnosed with cannabis-induced mental disorders, including schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, has increased by 50%.

Across the board, media outlets have repeatedly reported that legalization of marijuana has fueled black market operations rather than reducing them — emboldening drug cartels that operate industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites.

Fox News and CBS News have highlighted how Chinese investment and organized crime are driving illegal marijuana production across the U.S., and CBN reported last October that Chinese investors with “suitcases full of cash” are buying U.S. farmland to grow black market marijuana.

Arkansas voters rejected marijuana legalization at the ballot box in 2022. That amendment was opposed by a broad coalition of churches, business groups, elected officials, and citizens who knew that marijuana would be bad for Arkansas. We anticipate similar opposition to the 2024 marijuana amendment.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Marijuana and Psychosis in Teens: Guest Post

Marijuana

It’s time to stop the delusion that legalizing weed has done no harm.

In 2016, Massachusetts voters legalized recreational marijuana. Roughly seven years later, doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital say a full third of adolescents who come in for routine check-ups report using marijuana, and a third of those kids are likely to develop hallucinations or paranoia, according to new research.  

Nationwide, since 2019, the number of kids diagnosed with cannabis-induced mental disorders, including schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, has increased by 50%.  

Research continues to reveal, in fact, that the marijuana on the market today, including the stuff that’s “government regulated,” is more potent and dangerous than the weed of decades past. There’s just too much data now to ignore the correlations between marijuana use and mental health disorders. 

Also obvious is that the arguments used for the legalization of marijuana were bogus. The freedom to choose self-harm and addiction is no freedom at all. The kids now suffering from schizophrenia, depression, and paranoia are reasons enough to turn this train around. 

Copyright 2024 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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Group Forms to Oppose Abortion, Marijuana, Education Amendments

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On Friday the group Stronger Arkansas filed ballot question committee paperwork announcing it would work to disqualify and/or defeat the Arkansas Abortion Amendment, the marijuana amendment, and the Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment of 2024.

Arkansans for Limited Government is collecting petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

The amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, and it would prevent the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — allowing thousands of elective abortions every year and paving the way for taxpayer-funded abortions in Arkansas.

Another group is circulating petitions to place a marijuana amendment on the ballot this November.

The amendment would change Arkansas’ medical marijuana law to enable recreational marijuana statewide. No longer would marijuana users need to suffer from a specific medical condition.

The amendment would drastically expand Arkansas’ laws to make it possible for people to grow and use marijuana at home. This would make it easier for people to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment also would openly legalize marijuana in Arkansas if federal laws against marijuana are repealed.

The Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment of 2024 would change Arkansas’ constitution concerning education.

Among other things, the amendment would require private schools that receive public funding to be accredited like a public school. This could have significant ramifications for private schools that receive public funding under the state’s 2023 LEARNS Act.

A growing list of organizations in Arkansas oppose the abortion amendment.

Arkansas Right to Life and Family Council Action Committee both have launched campaigns to disqualify and defeat the abortion measure.

Choose Life Arkansas — which is made up of pro-life leaders from across the state — has also formed a campaign to defeat the amendment.

NWA Coalition for Life has filed a Statement of Organization last month announcing it is working against the abortion amendment. The group includes pro-life leaders from the Northwest Arkansas area.

On March 1 the Arkansas Committee For Ethics Policy filed paperwork with the State indicating it opposes the abortion amendment.

On March 6 the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock also filed a Statement of Organization announcing it opposes the amendment.

The groups circulating petitions for the abortion amendment, marijuana amendment, and education amendment have until July 5 to collect the nearly 91,000 petition signatures necessary to place their measures on the ballot.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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