Pubdate: Wed, 31 Oct 2012
Source: Times Record (Fort Smith, AR)
Copyright: 2012 Stephens Media Group
Contact: http://www.swtimes.com/site/forms/?mode=letters
Website: http://www.swtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/529

OPPONENTS CLAIM ARKANSAS BALLOT ISSUE MAY ALLOW MARIJUANA VENDING MACHINES

LITTLE ROCK - Passage of a ballot issue that would legalize marijuana 
for medical use in the state could lead to "marijuana vending 
machines," an opponent of the proposal claimed Tuesday, a charge the 
measure's supporters denied.

Jerry Cox, leader of the Family Council Action Committee, said he 
recently learned that one of the ways marijuana is dispensed to 
patients in California is through dispensing machines. He questioned 
whether similar machines would be set up in Arkansas if voters 
approve the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, also known as Issue 5.

"It's just yet another way to put more marijuana in the hands of the 
public. These machines ... don't run 8 to 5. They run 24/7," Cox said 
during a state Capitol news conference, standing next to a cardboard 
cutout of a marijuana dispensing machine like those used in parts of 
California.

A large marijuana leaf on the cutout apparently was added by the 
Family Council.

Cox acknowledged that there is no language in the proposal allowing 
marijuana to be dispensed through machines, but he said the proposal 
does not prohibit the machines either.

"If the act doesn't prohibit it, then we have to assume that it's 
allowed," he said.

Chris Kell, spokesman for the group sponsoring the measure, Arkansas 
for Compassionate Care, said Cox's claim is "simply not true."

"That's like saying because we didn't exclude cocaine, we're going to 
be selling cocaine," he said.

Kell said the 8,700-word proposal on Arkansas' general election 
ballot is "nothing like" California's four-sentence law on medical 
marijuana. Under Arkansas' ballot proposal, marijuana could be 
dispensed at no more than 30 dispensaries, and only to people with 
certain specific health conditions, he said.

The initiative calls for the state Health Department to establish 
rules and regulations governing marijuana transactions. Kell said he 
did not believe the Health Department would approve dispensing 
machines like those in California, but if it did, the machines would 
not increase access to marijuana beyond patients who are approved to use it.

The machines in California are only allowed at marijuana dispensaries 
and require a security-coded patient ID card to operate, he said.

Cox provided reporters with a copy of a letter from state Sens. 
Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, and Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, 
asking Attorney General Dustin McDaniel for an opinion on whether 
Issue 5 would allow marijuana to be dispensed to patients through machines.

McDaniel issued a news release later Tuesday, saying the AG's office 
"declined to opine, consistent with previous practice ... regarding 
measures that are to be voted on by the people in the upcoming election."

Also Tuesday, Arkansas for Compassionate Care held a news conference 
in Fayetteville to announce that a coalition of 12 clergy members 
from across the state has formed to support Issue 5.

"I am proud to be among the faith leaders who have endorsed the use 
of medical marijuana by seriously ill patients," the Rev. Howard 
Gordon, minister emeritus at First Presbyterian Church in Little 
Rock, said in a news release.

"We are compassionate people by nature, and Issue 5, at its core, is 
about compassion. Arkansans must look beyond the scare tactics used 
by opponents of the measure and appreciate that there are less 
fortunate members of society who truly need marijuana to alleviate 
their suffering," Gordon said.

A coalition of Arkansas doctors has formed to oppose the proposed 
initiated act. Other groups opposing the measure include the Arkansas 
Sheriffs' Association, Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police and 
Arkansas Pharmacists Association.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom