Medical 'pot' backers hope third time's the charm

Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana will launch a third attempt at putting a ballot initiative before Arkansas voters.

The Arkansas attorney general's office approved the ballot title and popular name of the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act late Thursday afternoon. The approval means Arkansans for Compassionate Care will have almost two years to collect the required number of valid petition signatures to get the measure on the November 2016 ballot.

The proposal would allow for the legal sale of medical marijuana to patients with certain illnesses.

The group tried to get the same ballot initiative before voters this November but failed after coming up about 12,000 signatures short as of the July 7 deadline.

In 2012, voters narrowly voted down the measure, known then as Issue 5, with 49 percent of votes in favor.

"There's been so much research since the 2012 vote showing that this is an actual medicine that can save people's lives. ... I don't see how we can fail," said Melissa Fults, campaign director of Arkansans for Compassionate Care. "We're going to kick off our campaign in September and get started quickly."

The attorney general's office issued an opinion about 5 p.m. Thursday announcing the decision to approve the ballot title wording. According to that opinion, the title includes language to let voters know that the vote does not legalize all marijuana use, only use for specific medical purposes.

The measure would require the Arkansas Department of Health to set up nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries around the state.

The initiative also would allow patients who live more than 20 miles from a medical marijuana dispensary to grow their own limited supply, subject to inspection and regulation by the Health Department. Growers would be limited to five mature plants and five seedlings.

Several organizations have come out against the measure during the group's past two attempts, including religious groups, doctor associations and law enforcement groups.

Calls to the Arkansas Family Council, a group that promotes conservative social values, were not returned late Thursday. The group spearheaded the opposition to the medical marijuana initiative both in 2012 and 2014. The council's executive director, Jerry Cox, has said in previous interviews that the group opposes the measure partly because it will give children more access to the drug.

A spokesman for the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association said late Thursday that the group wanted to read the ballot initiative before making any comment.

Fults said she's been hearing a different tune from former opponents of the measure.

"I've had ministers call me to apologize for their stance on this in 2012," she said. "They said they were told by their church organization that this was wrong, but they've realized since then that this is truly a medicine and that Jesus advocated for helping the sick and saving people."

This year, the initiative needed 62,507 signatures to appear on the November ballot. For 2016, that number will change because the law bases the required number of signatures on how many people voted in the last governor's election. The group will be required to collect 8 percent of the total number of votes cast in the governor's race in November.

Fults said that with almost two years -- the deadline will be in early July 2016 -- collecting the signatures won't be a problem.

But the field might be crowded and confusing for registered voters with three potential ballot initiatives involving marijuana asking for their signature.

The attorney general's office approved the ballot title for a measure asking to legalize marijuana in general, and the backers of a different medical marijuana initiative that would not allow patients to grow their own plants said they also would seek approval.

Metro on 08/15/2014

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