A Quick Look at the Arkansas Legislature

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A lot is happening at the Arkansas Legislature. Here’s a quick look at some of the bills that have been filed so far — including good bills, bad bills, and a few bills that simply are worth knowing about.

Good Bills

H.B. 1289: This good bill by Rep. Brandt Smith (R – Jonesboro) protects the rights of conscience of all healthcare workers and companies. This will prevent people and organizations from being forced to promote, participate in, or pay for medical procedures that violate their conscience — like abortion. Read The Bill Here.

S.B. 156: This good bill by Sen. Bob Ballinger (R – Berryville) and Rep. Dan Sullivan (R – Jonesboro) prevents public colleges and universities from infringing the free speech of students and faculty on campus. In other states, pro-life student groups have faced discrimination on college campuses, and universities have tried to squelch faith-based student groups. Arkansas State University in Jonesboro currently faces a lawsuit over a policy that relegates speech to certain “free speech zones” on campus; the policy has been heavily criticized, and many do not expect it to survive a legal challenge. S.B. 156 protects students and faculty from these types of restrictions. Read The Bill Here.

S.B. 149: This good bill by Sen. Jason Rapert (R – Conway) prohibits abortion in Arkansas if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned. Read The Bill Here.

S.B. 2: This good bill by Sen. Trent Garner (R – El Dorado) prohibits abortions performed because the baby has Down Syndrome. Read The Bill Here.

S.B. 3: This good bill by Sen. Trent Garner (R – El Dorado) requires abortionist to report complications arising from an abortion. Abortion carries a number of risks and consequences, and the reporting required by this bill will help Arkansas craft better pro-life laws in the future. Read The Bill Here.

S.B. 168: This good bill updates Arkansas’ Safe Haven Act. It lets a woman surrender her newborn to law enforcement personnel, fire department personnel, or medical personnel. Arkansas’ Safe Haven Act protects children from being abandoned, and it provides women with options besides abortion. Read The Bill Here.

Bad Bills

H.B. 1164 and H.B. 1290: These two bills by Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R – Clarksville) let pharmacists dispense oral contraceptives to women without a prescription from a doctor. Oral contraceptives carry a number of health risks — which is why women currently need a prescription from a doctor — and they can cause the death of an unborn child by preventing the unborn child from implanting and growing inside the mother’s womb. That’s why Family Council opposes both of these bills.
Read H.B. 1164 Here.
Read H.B. 1290 Here.

H.B. 1150: This bill expands the list of “qualifying conditions” in Arkansas’ marijuana amendment, making it even easier for people to use so-called “medical” marijuana. Marijuana is a blight on our communities, and Arkansas’ marijuana amendment already is too vague and open-ended. Marijuana needs to be restricted — not expanded. Read The Bill Here.

Other Noteworthy Bills

H.B. 1294: This bill by Rep. Jana Della Rosa (R – Rogers) gives officials discretion when prosecuting DUI cases. Some are concerned the bill may make it less likely that drunk drivers will be prosecuted. Read The Bill Here.

S.B. 190: This bill by Sen. Greg Leding (D – Fayetteville) creates a state license for genetic counselors in Arkansas. Genetic counseling gives some pro-life advocates pause, because it can be used to promote abortion — particularly in cases when the unborn baby may have Down Syndrome. Read The Bill Here.

How to Contact Your Legislators

You can leave a message about legislation for your state senator by calling the Arkansas Senate during normal business hours at (501) 682-2902.

You can leave a message about legislation for your state representative by calling the Arkansas House during normal business hours at (501) 682-6211.

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Proposal Would Make It Easier to Use Marijuana in Arkansas

Marijuana

Yesterday we shared a commentary from our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview highlighting a New York Times op-ed about the growing public health threat posed by marijuana.

This week a bill was filed at the Arkansas Legislature making it easier for Arkansans to use marijuana under the state’s so-called “medical marijuana” amendment.

Currently, Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution lets Arkansans use marijuana if they have any one of a long list of qualifying conditions.

H.B. 1150 by Rep. Doug House (R – North Little Rock) expands the list of qualifying conditions to add the following:

  • adiposis dolorosa or Dercum’s Disease
  • anorexia
  • Arnold-Chiari malformation,
  • asthma,
  • attention deficit disorder,
  • attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
  • autism
  • bipolar disorder
  • bulimia
  • causalgia
  • chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
  • chronic insomnia
  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • complex regional pain syndrome Type I and Type II
  • dystonia
  • emphysema
  • fibrous dysplasia
  • general anxiety disorder
  • hydrocephalus
  • hydromyelia
  • interstitial cystitis
  • lupus
  • migraine
  • myasthenia gravis
  • myoclonus
  • nail-patella syndrome
  • neurofibromatosis
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • posterior lateral sclerosis
  • post concussion syndrome
  • reflex sympathetic dystrophy
  • residual limb and phantom pain
  • restless leg syndrome,
  • Sjogren’s syndrome,
  • spinocerebellar ataxia
  • spinal cord injury or disease including without limitation arachnoiditis
  • syringomyelia
  • Tarlov cysts
  • traumatic brain injury

If passed, H.B. 1150 would let people with COPD or emphysema smoke marijuana.

It would let parents give marijuana to their child if the child tests positive for ADD or ADHD.

It would let people with traumatic brain injuries use marijuana.

Of course, research does not show that marijuana is effective treating these conditions. However, research has shown that marijuana smoke contains more tar and carcinogens than tobacco, and marijuana-use is linked to a host of mental problems, including permanent loss in IQ and increased risk of schizophrenia.

In other words, it probably isn’t a good idea to let people with lung disease smoke marijuana, and it probably isn’t a good idea to give marijuana to people with learning disabilities or brain injuries.

Arkansas’ marijuana amendment already makes it very easy for people to use marijuana, but H.B. 1150 arguably makes it even easier.

You can contact your state representative about H.B. 1150 by calling the Arkansas House of Representatives at (501) 682-6211.

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Marijuana Legalization: A Public Health Threat

Marijuana

Our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview published a brief commentary today identifying some of the public health threats posed by legalization of marijuana.

John Stonestreet writes,


This is stone-cold crazy.

According to Alex Berenson, in a lead op-ed in the New York Times, the legalization of marijuana is a serious and growing threat to public health and public safety.

The article is entitled “What Advocates of Legalizing Pot Don’t Want You to Know.” In it, Berenson lays out the evidence for that claim, and it’s sobering. Maybe frightening.

Not only are cannabis users more likely to start using opioids, but the National Academy of Medicine reports that using pot “is likely to increase the risk of schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.” Between 2006 and 2014, emergency room visits for marijuana-induced psychosis tripled to 90,000. And all of the first four states to legalize marijuana have seen “sharp increases in murders and aggravated assaults since 2014.”

And yet, more and more states are rushing headlong toward legalization. Folks, come to BreakPoint.org, we’ll link you to the Times piece. Share it with your state legislators.

If Christians are really for human flourishing and loving our neighbors, it’s time to speak out against legalizing marijuana.

We’ve written numerous times about the dangers posed by marijuana and the link between marijuana use and mental health concerns — including memory problems, a permanent loss in IQ, and schizophrenia.

As we have said time and time again, marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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