Marijuana – Page 133 – Family Council

Marijuana Amendment a Brazen Attempt at Marijuana Monopoly

Jul 8, 2016Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

The following is a press release from Family Council Action Committee.

On Friday supporters of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016 submitted petition signatures requesting their proposal be placed on the ballot this November.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox released a statement, saying, “Compared to the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, this proposed constitutional amendment is a different kind of bad. This amendment will bring a marijuana business monopoly to Arkansas. A five-member, unelected commission will pretty much control the industry. Only eight people will be allowed to grow marijuana in Arkansas, and only forty will be allowed to sell it. This is a brazen move funded by the alcohol industry to build an Arkansas marijuana monopoly.

“Unlike the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, which lets people grow their own marijuana at home, this amendment deliberately puts all the marijuana growing, processing, and selling into the hands of just a few select people,” Cox said.

“It’s hard to tell which one of the two marijuana measures is worse. One allows just about anyone grow it at home, and the other creates a monopoly. Both measures allow anyone with pain or nausea to get a marijuana card with just a simple note from a doctor. Both measures allow marijuana stores in cities and towns around Arkansas. Both measures allow marijuana cardholders to avoid penalties from drug testing, skirt employment rules, and use it while enrolled in school. Both would allow children, with parental consent, to acquire a card to smoke marijuana.”

Cox called both marijuana proposals bad for Arkansans. “The end result if either measure passes will be terrible for the people of Arkansas. Neither measure is medicine. There is no prescription from a doctor. Marijuana won’t be dispensed through pharmacies. No one will regulate the dosage, strength, or content. Anyone with pain or nausea can qualify to use it. Ninety-seven percent of ‘medical marijuana’ users in other states are otherwise-healthy people who claim some minor ailment. Very few are cancer patients or people suffering from serious diseases. What’s more the primary delivery method is smoking, a behavior universally deemed unhealthy. Their goal is not medicine; it is total legalization.”

Cox said both marijuana proposals will cost taxpayers money. “Taxpayers will foot the bill. Policing this industry will cost millions. Our State Foster Care system is overrun with children in need of homes because of drug-addicted parents. How many more children will land in foster care at taxpayers’ expense if Arkansas legalizes marijuana? The list of problems in other states should serve as a warning for Arkansas not to go down that same path.”

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

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Family Council Action Committee Vows to Fight Marijuana Measure

Jul 7, 2016Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

The following is a press release from Family Council Action Committee.

On Thursday the Secretary of State announced that a measure legalizing medical marijuana had enough valid petition signatures to be certified for the November ballot in Arkansas.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox issued a statement vowing to oppose the measure, saying, “This measure will allow most people to grow their own marijuana at home. It is nothing more than the second verse of the very same song marijuana supporters have been singing since 2012. It opens marijuana stores and marijuana farms in our communities. It’s written so broadly that virtually any healthy adult with pain or nausea will be able to finagle a way to use marijuana. There won’t be any prescriptions from a doctor—just a note. No pharmacies will dispense it, and no one will regulate the content or dosage. It will force the Arkansas Department of Health to spend millions of tax dollars on the state’s marijuana program.”

Cox said his group will verify the marijuana proposal’s petitions. “The first thing we plan to do is examine every page of the petitions. We are going to double-check the validity of the petitions and the petition signatures. If the sponsors or their canvassers have committed fraud or broken the law, we are prepared to take them to court. Arkansas law is very detailed about how petitions for a ballot proposal must be handled and how signatures must be collected. If there are problems with petitions themselves or with the signatures on the petitions, the measure could be disqualified from the ballot.”

Cox said his group is considering a legal challenge against the proposal as well. “We’re also considering a legal challenge against the measure’s ballot title and popular name. I think we can all agree voters need to know exactly what they are voting on. This measure is 10,000 words long. The ballot title and popular name for the November ballot are misleading and they fail to adequately inform the voter about the true nature of the measure. In the past, the Arkansas Supreme Court has removed deceptive measures from the ballot. If the measure ends up on the ballot this November, however, we will mount a grassroots campaign to encourage people to vote against it.”

Cox said he does not believe public opinion on marijuana has significantly changed in the past four years. “This same issue was defeated in the election of 2012, and I believe the people of Arkansas are wise enough to see through this sham and vote it down again. They don’t want their neighbors growing it in their backyards. They don’t want marijuana stores on Main Street. They don’t want kids flashing their marijuana cards at school, and they don’t want to drive the highways with stoned drivers in the oncoming lane.

“People who never plan to use marijuana can still be hurt or killed by it.”

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

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