Page 270 – Family Council

Arkansas Authorities Arrest Kentucky Man for Allegedly Trafficking Illegal Marijuana, THC Products

Jun 13, 2024Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

Last week Arkansas State Police arrested a Kentucky man for allegedly trafficking illegal marijuana and THC products.

Below is a press release from the Arkansas State Police with additional information.

VAN BUREN, Ark. — On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, around 2 p.m., Arkansas State Police (ASP) stopped a rented 2023 white Kia Soul near the 2-mile marker on Interstate 40 Eastbound in Crawford County for a traffic violation.

During a search of the vehicle, Troopers discovered 22 pounds of illegal marijuana inside vacuum-sealed bags, approximately three pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, 2,400 THC vape cartridges, and five pounds of THC concentrate.

Troopers arrested the driver, Benjamin Joyner, 25, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and transported him to the Crawford County Detention Center, where he is being held on felony charges of Trafficking a Controlled Substance, Possession with Purpose to Deliver, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Joyner told investigators he was traveling from Los Angeles, California, to Kentucky.

We have written repeatedly about how marijuana’s legalization in other states has actually fueled the black market rather than weakening it.

California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce seized more than $312 million worth of illegal marijuana in 2023.

Oregon has been inundated by industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites operated illegally by organized crime and drug cartels. Some of these marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking and violent crime.

Oklahoma authorities describe illicit marijuana as a problem that “plagues” their state.

Right now the group Arkansans for Patient Access is actively working to drastically expand marijuana in Arkansas.

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

If passed, the amendment would give free marijuana cards to immigrants and out-of-state residents who come to Arkansas to use marijuana.

The amendment would guarantee marijuana growers and sellers a monopoly over the state’s marijuana industry.

Marijuana users would no longer need to show they suffer from a specific medical condition listed in state law — making it easier to use marijuana recreationally.

The measure also fails to limit the amount of THC that marijuana products can contain, and it repeals restrictions on marijuana advertising.

All of this would lead to more marijuana in the state.

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

Facility Complies with Arkansas A.G.’s Pro-Life Cease-and-Desist

Jun 13, 2024Jerry CoxAbortion, VideoAbortion, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life, Video

Capitol Grounds Commission Recommends Space for Arkansas’ Monument to the Unborn

Jun 12, 2024Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Tuesday the Arkansas Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission agreed to recommend a location on the state capitol grounds for a monument honoring the unborn.

Act 310 of 2023 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R – Benton) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville) authorizes a privately funded pro-life monument on the Arkansas Capitol Grounds. The Arts and Grounds Commission, which is responsible for the property around the capitol building, has debated where the monument ought to be located. Tuesday’s decision brings the monument another step closer to completion.

The monument will commemorate the 236,243 unborn children whose lives were lost to abortion from 1973 – 2022.

Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and abortion is prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, it’s important to remember the dignity and humanity of all unborn children.

Act 310 does that by establishing this monument as “a constant reminder of our duty to protect the life of every innocent human person, no matter how young or old, or how helpless and vulnerable that person may be.”

This monument to the unborn is more than just a structure. It is a powerful testament to Arkansas’ resolve to honor and protect innocent human life at all stages of development, from conception until natural death.

Arkansas Right to Life was the lead pro-life proponent of Act 310. Family Council was proud to support their efforts.

While Arkansas is making progress to build a monument to the unborn, an effort is also underway to write abortion into the state constitution.

Arkansans for Limited Government has until July 5 to collect 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot. According to public records, the group currently employs more than 100 paid petition canvassers gathering signatures for the ballot measure.

If passed, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would write abortion into the state constitution, allowing thousands of elective abortions in Arkansas every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion.

The measure prevents the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy, and it automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment. That jeopardizes even the most basic health and safety restrictions on abortion.

The amendment’s health exceptions would permit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

It also would pave the way for publicly funded abortion in Arkansas by changing Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution that currently prohibits taxpayer funded abortion in the state.

To date, multiple organizations have come out against the amendment, including: