One of Arkansas’ Medical Cannabis Proposals Disqualified from Ballot Consideration

Less than two weeks before voting opens up for the election, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that one of the medical cannabis proposals on the ballot has been disqualified.

The decision was made on October 27, with a 5-2 ruling with the court agreeing with opponents of the cannabis initiative who were against the initiative, called Issue 7. The initiative would have allowed for patients with specific medical conditions to obtain a recommendation from a doctor to purchase medical cannabis at a local dispensary. This year, there were originally going to be two medical cannabis initiatives on the ballot. The other competing initiative, Issue 6, was similar to Issue 7, with the exception that it does not allow patients to grow their own cannabis if they don’t live close to a dispensary.

“It eliminates some of the confusion on which to vote for,” said Arkansas Attorney David Couch. “If you want to help sick and dying patients in Arkansas, then you have to vote for [Issue 6].”

Over 12,000 signatures for Issue 7 were considered invalid by the court, stating that “supporters didn’t comply with laws regarding registration ad reporting of paid canvassers,” according to ABC News. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the initiative was missing only 2,500 signatures in order to keep its ballot qualification. Unfortunately, an estimated 142,000 people have already cast their ballots through the state’s early voting program that began on October 24.

Even a spokesman for an anti-cannabis coalition, State Surgeon general Greg Bledsoe, was concerned with the sudden decision. “Honestly, at this point in the stage, 12 days before the election, it sounds kind of strange, but I actually wish it would have gone to the voters and let them vote it up or down at this point,” Bledsoe said.