List of Marijuana Opponents Swells

Marijuana

The list of individuals and groups opposed to marijuana Issues 6 & 7 now includes:

  1. Gov. Asa Hutchinson
  2. Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin
  3. Arkansas Surgeon General Dr. Greg Bledsoe
  4. Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce
  5. Associated Industries of Arkansas
  6. Arkansas Farm Bureau
  7. Arkansas Hospital Association
  8. Arkansas Pharmacy Association
  9. Arkansas Society of Human Resource Managers
  10. Human Resource Management Association of Arkansas
  11. Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators
  12. Arkansas Realtors Association
  13. Arkansas Landlords Association
  14. Arkansas School Nurses Association
  15. Arkansas Medical Society
  16. Family Physician Association
  17. Arkansas Department of Health
  18. University of Arkansas for Medical Science
  19. Arkansas Center for Health Improvement
  20. Arkansas Heart Hospital
  21. Arkansas Children’s Hospital
  22. American Academy of Pediatrics
  23. Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
  24. Family Council Action Committee
  25. Arkansas Committee for Ethics Policy
  26. Coalition for Safer Arkansas Communities
  27. Families First Action Committee
  28. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
  29. Elks Lodge of Arkansas

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Court Strikes Bad Casino, Tort Proposals From Ballot

Casinos, Current Events,

my_trusty_gavelThe following press release is from Family Council Action Committee.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 13, 2016

On Thursday the Arkansas Supreme Court disqualified ballot proposals, Issue 4 dealing with limits on damages in medical injury lawsuits and Issue 5, which opens three casinos in Arkansas, from the November ballot.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “In my opinion, both of these measures were seriously flawed and needed to be removed from the ballot. While I support general medical malpractice reforms for doctors, Issue 4 could have made it possible for some nursing homes to neglect residents without facing sufficient consequences. Issue 5 would have brought casinos to three counties in Arkansas, and it would have written a specific corporation from Missouri into our state’s constitution. I am glad to see the Arkansas Supreme Court has disqualified these proposals.”

Cox said he also believes the court should have ruled against the two marijuana ballot proposals as well in order to be consistent with this ruling. “The Arkansas Supreme Court disqualified Issues 4 and 5 in part because they failed to define some of their key terms in the proposals. Marijuana Issues 6 and 7 fail to define some of their key terms as well, but the court left those proposals on the ballot. The court was right to disqualify Issues 4 and 5, but by the same standard, the court should have disqualified the two marijuana measures as well.”

Family Council Action Committee is a conservative 501(c)(4) organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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Photo Credit: By Brian Turner (Flickr: My Trusty Gavel) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Arkansas Supreme Court Leaves Bad Marijuana Proposal On Ballot

Marijuana

The following press release is from Family Council Action Committee.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 13, 2016

On Thursday the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Issue 6, a ballot proposal legalizing so-called “medical marijuana,” could stay on the ballot for November.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “The Arkansas Supreme Court has made a very poor decision. This proposal brings recreational marijuana to Arkansas. It is a flawed measure that hurts Arkansans.”

Cox said “medical marijuana” is simply recreational marijuana by another name. “This is a blatant attempt by the alcohol industry to launch a lucrative marijuana industry in Arkansas. This proposal wasn’t written for the terminally ill or for children who suffer from seizures. The measure lets practically anyone qualify to use marijuana. It lets a handful of businesses establish a powerful monopoly on marijuana in Arkansas, and it makes it very difficult for the Arkansas Legislature to regulate that monopoly. That’s dangerous.”

Cox pointed out specific problems with Issue 6’s wording. “This proposal is over ten thousand words long. It doesn’t simply legalize marijuana. It also affects criminal laws; employment laws; property laws; and education laws. It increases the size of state government. None of that is clear if all you have to go on is the measure’s title that appears on the ballot. It is not fair to ask Arkansans to vote on such a complicated proposal.”

Cox noted that no credible medical experts in Arkansas endorse marijuana. “The Arkansas Surgeon General and the director of the Arkansas Department of Health both say marijuana is not medicine. Governor Hutchinson recently stood alongside an entire team of physicians who pointed out the health problems associated with marijuana. The Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics came out against this proposal this week. Study after study published in the British Medical Journal, the Journals of the American Medical Association, and others have linked marijuana use with heart and lung problems, memory problems, reductions in IQ, and other mental health problems. Scientists are researching potential medicines that might be derived from the marijuana plant, but the claim that marijuana itself is ‘medicine’ simply doesn’t hold water.”

Cox said Family Council Action Committee will continue to campaign against Issue 6.

Family Council Action Committee is a conservative 501(c)(4) organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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