Unpacking the Polling On “Medical” Marijuana in Arkansas

Marijuana

Earlier this month Talk Business published the results of a poll conducted in cooperation with Impact Management and Hendrix College. The poll purports to show 84% of Arkansas voters support “medical” marijuana prescribed by a physician.

Many people are touting these poll results as proof Arkansans support legalization of “medical” marijuana. But before we jump to conclusions, let’s look at the key question in the poll regarding marijuana:

“Do you agree or disagree that adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician prescribes it?”

According to Talk Business, 84% of people surveyed answered “agree.” There is a problem, however: The kind of marijuana proposal described by this poll question is nothing like any of the proposals being offered to Arkansans right now. In fact, it’s nothing like any “medical” marijuana law we know of in the nation.

Here is what we mean. (more…)

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In CO, Marijuana Use by Kids 58% Above Average

Marijuana

An article in Citizen magazine’s August issue reveals some disturbing facts about marijuana use in the U.S.:

  • Some of today’s products laced with marijuana concentrates have 400 percent greater potency than marijuana joints sold 30 years ago.
  • Marijuana concentrate is available in forms designed to appeal to children, including lollipops, gummies, cherry drops, brownies, chocolates, cookies, fruit punches, and sodas.
  • In Colorado, marijuana use by kids between the ages of 12 and 17 is now 58 percent higher than the national average.
  • The rate of use among college-age adults in Colorado is 54 percent above the national average.
  • Drug-related suspensions from Colorado schools jumped 34 percent from the 2005-2009 period to the 2010-2014 period, while alcohol-related suspensions stayed flat.

We have written before about how children and adults mistake marijuana edibles for traditional candy.

Emergency rooms are seeing more cases of children accidentally ingesting marijuana, and marijuana is increasingly linked with schizophrenia and other mental problems.

Rod Thomson writes for Citizen,

A top concern for many people who are now part of the resistance is the fact that kids under the age of 21—the minimum age for purchasing marijuana that was written into the law—are nonetheless consuming it at stunning levels, according to the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA), an offshoot of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which coordinates efforts between federal, state and local drug-enforcement agencies.

Moreover, today’s marijuana includes concentrated products, like cannabis butter or oil, which are made by extracting the psychoactive ingredient of the plant for a very powerful effect.

You can read more here.

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A.G. Rejects Marijuana Proposals, Term Limits and Ethics Amendment

Current Events,

Yesterday Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office rejected two ballot proposals related to marijuana and a third proposal repealing Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution.

Both marijuana proposals were offered by Robert Reed of Dennard. One proposal would legalize marijuana for any purpose statewide.

The other would legalize “hemp” and “medical cannabis.” The proposal distinguishes between hemp and “medical cannabis” by defining hemp as cannabis with relatively low levels of THC. The goal appears to be to legalize hemp for industrial use which we have written about before; however, even cannabis with low levels of THC might be used as a recreational drug, and presumably this measure could allow that.

You can read the A.G.’s opinions rejecting the two marijuana measures here and here.

A proposal by Tom Steele of Little Rock repealing Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution was also rejected.

As you may recall, Amendment 94 was passed by voters last November as Issue 3; Issue 3 extends term limits in Arkansas, and coupled with Issue 1, which voters also passed last November, it gives the Arkansas Legislature a great deal of control over the ethics regulations that govern Arkansas’ elected officials.

Presumably, the goal of “repealing Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution” is to restore Arkansas’ ethics laws and more stringent term limits laws that existed prior to 2014.

You can read the A.G.’s opinion rejecting Mr. Steele’s proposal here. You can read Amendment 94 in its entirety here.

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