Group Backing Marijuana in Arkansas Has Spent $1.5M+ On Campaign So Far

Marijuana,

According to state ethics reports filed last week, the group backing marijuana in Arkansas has spent more than $1.5 million on its effort to make the ballot this November.

Arkansans for Patient Access is promoting the Arkan­sas Med­ical Marijuana Amend­ment of 2024. The measure rewrites much of the “medical” marijuana amendment that Arkansas enacted in 2016. The measure would let people use “medical” marijuana without suffering from a specific medical condition listed in state law.

The amendment would repeal state laws and regulations that protect children from marijuana marketing, and it would give free marijuana cards to immigrants and people from out of state who travel to Arkansas to use marijuana. It also fails to limit the amount of THC that marijuana products can contain.

According to its latest ethics reports, Arkansans for Patient Access has raised $1.9 million for its campaign, and it has spent more than $1.5 million. Most of the group’s money has gone to hire petition canvassers to gather signatures in support of the marijuana amendment.

Family Council Action Committee has materials available for volunteers and churches regarding the marijuana amendment:

You can learn more at FamilyCouncilActionCommittee.com.

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

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Group Backing Arkansas Abortion Amendment Received $300K+ in July: New Report

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On Wednesday, Arkansans for Limited Government filed reports with the state Ethics Commission showing the group received $306,314 in donations to its abortion amendment campaign last month.

Most of the funding — $250,000 — came from the Tides Foundation, a left-leaning donor-advised fund in California.

Arkansans for Limited Government is pushing to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot.

If passed, the measure would write abortion into the state constitution.

The Arkansas Abortion Amendment would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — which is more extreme than Roe v. Wade and would allow thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and unborn children every year.

The measure would automatically nullify all state laws that conflict with the amendment — jeopardizing basic abortion regulations like parental-consent and informed-consent requirements and paving the way for taxpayer-funded abortion in Arkansas.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it does not require abortions to be performed by a physician or in a licensed medical facility.

The measure also contains various exceptions that would permit abortion up to birth in many cases.

Last month, Arkansans for Limited Government submitted petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. Bringing the amendment up for a vote would require at least 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters.

However, Secretary of State John Thurston disqualified every petition filed to place the abortion measure on the ballot, because the sponsors failed to provide affidavits that state law requires concerning paid petition canvassers.

By law, ballot initiative sponsors must file a statement confirming that each paid canvassers was given a copy of the state’s initiative and referenda handbook as well as an explanation of relevant state laws before he or she solicited petition signatures. The sponsors backing the abortion measure failed to file this specific documentation when they submitted the petitions for the abortion amendment. That prompted the Secretary of State to reject all of the petitions.

Arkansans for Limited Government subsequently filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Thurston. The case is currently pending before the state supreme court.

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

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Court Lets Marijuana, Casino License Amendment Sponsors Intervene in Lawsuit Over Abortion Measure

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On Tuesday the state supreme court opted to let sponsors of a marijuana amendment and an amendment to change Arkansas’ casino license laws intervene in a lawsuit over a proposed abortion amendment.

The joint motion to intervene filed by Arkansans for Patient Access and Local Voters In Charge claims that the court’s decision in the lawsuit could affect petition signatures the groups gathered for their respective ballot measures.

The motion says the groups would like to intervene in the lawsuit “for the limited purpose of
addressing whether a sponsor can appoint an agent to fulfill its statutory duties” under Arkansas law.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to let the two ballot question committees intervene in the lawsuit and file a brief with the court.

Last month, Arkansans for Limited Government submitted petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. Bringing the amendment up for a vote would require at least 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters.

However, Secretary of State John Thurston disqualified every petition filed to place the abortion measure on the ballot, because the sponsors failed to provide affidavits that state law requires concerning paid petition canvassers.

By law, ballot initiative sponsors must file a statement confirming that each paid canvassers was given a copy of the state’s initiative and referenda handbook as well as an explanation of relevant state laws before he or she solicited petition signatures. The sponsors backing the abortion measure failed to file this specific documentation when they submitted the petitions for the abortion amendment. That prompted the Secretary of State to reject all of the petitions.

Arkansans for Limited Government subsequently filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Thurston.

The Arkansas Abortion Amendment would change the constitution to prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — which is more extreme than Roe v. Wade and would allow thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and unborn children every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it does not require abortions to be performed by a physician or in a licensed medical facility.

It automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment — jeopardizing basic abortion regulations like parental-consent and informed-consent requirements.

The measure also contains various exceptions that would permit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

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

READ MORE