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Group Spent $14.2M+ on Marijuana Amendment Voters Rejected: Report

Yesterday the group Responsible Growth Arkansas filed a state ethics report showing the organization spent a total of $14,239,037.28 on its effort to pass marijuana amendment Issue 4.

Issue 4 would have legalized marijuana in Arkansas, but voters rejected the proposed constitutional amendment last month.

This was a true “David and Goliath” fight — and David won.

The campaign against Issue 4 had only a fraction of the money that the marijuana industry had, but it was defeated by a broad coalition of churches, business groups, elected officials, and citizens who knew that Issue 4 would be bad for Arkansas.

We couldn’t have defeated Issue 4 without people like my good friend former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Governor Asa Hutchinson, Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin, U.S. Senators Boozman and Cotton, U.S. Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, and Bruce Westerman, attorney David Couch, marijuana advocate Melissa Fults, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, dozens of state lawmakers, Arkansas Farm Bureau, the Arkansas Trucking Association, the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Focus on the Family, the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, the Republican Party of Arkansas, the Arkansas State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, and many, many others.

Every one of them brought something unique to the fight against Issue 4. We all did our part, and voters soundly rejected Issue 4 as a result.

Going forward, the marijuana businesses who backed Issue 4 should think twice before trying to legalize marijuana in our state. Voters clearly don’t want a measure like Issue 4 in the Arkansas Constitution.

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Study Finds Poison Center Calls for Child Marijuana Exposure Up 245% Since 2000

Poison center reports due to children exposed to marijuana rose 245% from 2000 – 2020, according to a new study from researchers at the Oregon Health and Sciences University.

The study examined 338,727 cases of marijuana “misuse and abuse exposures” for children ages 6 through 18 years old reported to the National Poison Data System.

Overall, researchers found the most dramatic increase in marijuana exposure among children happened from 2017 to 2020 — which would seem to indicate that the problem is only getting worse.

In particular, researchers found that marijuana edibles — food or candy laced with marijuana or its psychoactive chemicals like THC — “accounted for the highest increase in call [to Poison Control Centers] rates compared with all other forms of marijuana.”

The study’s findings highlight growing concerns about how marijuana legalization hurts children.

In October, Arkansas Children’s Hospital voiced concerns about a proposal that would have legalized marijuana in Arkansas, saying,

Even with age restrictions, any policy that leads to increased adult use of marijuana is likely to lead to increased adolescent use, despite attempts to restrict sales to underage youth. This is of critical concern because of the potential harmful impact of marijuana exposure on children and adolescents.

To put it another way, children may be the unintended victims of marijuana legalization.

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

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

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