Arkansas A.G. Rejects Recreational Marijuana Proposal

Marijuana

Last week Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge rejected yet another proposal to legalize recreational marijuana.

Like virtually every other recreational marijuana proposal, the measure would have let adults and companies grow, buy, sell, and use marijuana for any reason.

The A.G.’s office rejected it, saying that the proposal suffered from the same “fundamental shortcomings” that have caused the office to reject other recreational marijuana proposals.

Attorney General Rutledge rejected at least 17 similar measures last year. This is the third recreational marijuana proposal her office has rejected so far this year.

As we have said before, marijuana’s proponents aren’t content with “medical marijuana.” The endgame is — and always has been — full legalization.

You can read the A.G.’s entire opinion here.

Photo By Cannabis Training University (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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A.G. Rejects Casino Amendment

Casinos

On Monday Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment establishing four casinos in Arkansas.

The proposal is similar to one the A.G.’s office rejected last month.

Supporters of the measure want to circulate petitions to place the amendment on the November ballot. If passed, the amendment would authorize casinos in Jefferson, Garland, Crittenden, and Pope counties.

The measure also would legalize sports betting at these casinos if federal laws against sports betting change.

The A.G.’s office said the amendment’s popular name was too long to be useful and that its ballot title did not accurately reflect the measure.

The A.G.’s office also noted that the ballot title itself appeared too long. In the past courts have indicated that ballot titles must be short enough that voters can read and understand them in a reasonable amount of time while in the voting booth.

We applaud Attorney General Rutledge and her team for rejecting this casino amendment. Gambling is a blight on the community. It preys on the poor and hurts families. These are problems Arkansas simply does not need.

You can read the Attorney General’s entire decision here.

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AR Lottery Paying 17 Cents on the Dollar to Scholarships This Fiscal Year

Arkansas Lottery

On Friday the Arkansas Lottery released its monthly financial report for February.

The report shows the Arkansas Lottery took in nearly $39.4 million, but paid out less than $6 million for college scholarships — about 15% of all the money it made last month.

So far this fiscal year the Arkansas Lottery is allocating a paltry 17% of its income for college scholarships.

The Arkansas Lottery has been an abysmal failure. Ten years ago, lottery proponents said a state-run lottery would generate $100 million per year for Arkansas’ Academic Challenge Scholarship. That hasn’t happened.

Instead, last month the Arkansas Legislature voted to allocate $25 million in taxpayer money to help supplement the Academic Challenge Scholarship. Lawmakers have had to do this every year since the Lottery was established.

If the Lottery Office would change its priorities and increase the percentage of its budget it sets aside for students, it could easily generate much more money in scholarship funding.

Below is a breakdown of the lottery’s revenue and scholarship budget so far this fiscal year.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July $36,885,396.81 $6,661,762.99 18.1%
August 49,320,459.23 8,912,741.54 18.1%
September 36,405,731.14 6,755,333.93 18.6%
October 39,802,740.53 5,667,305.74 14.2%
November 36,186,107.78 6,691,228.00 18.5%
December 44,716,219.32 6,583,355.77 14.7%
January,2018 44,063,056.11 8,230,861.00 18.7%
February 39,389,927.57 5,947,647.50 15.1%
Total $326,769,638.49 $55,450,236.47 17.0%

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