Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2013
Source: Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AR)
Copyright: 2013 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Contact: http://nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68570/letter/
Website: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/828
Author: Michael R. Wickline
Page: 1B

MCDANIEL OKS ONE 'POT' BALLOT TITLE, REJECTS ONE

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Tuesday cleared the way for
medical marijuana supporters to begin collecting signatures to qualify
one group's ballot measure for the 2014 general election ballot.

But McDaniel rejected a similar proposal from another
group.

McDaniel ruled that the proposed popular name and ballot title
submitted by Arkansans for Responsible Medicine are legally
sufficient. The group's co-chairmen are David Couch of Little Rock and
Chris Kell of Greenbrier.

The popular name of the proposed initiated act is The Arkansas Medical
Marijuana Act, McDaniel said. The title must include an impartial
summary of the proposed ballot measure that will give voters a fair
understanding of the issues presented, he said.

Kell said the group now has until July 2014 to collect 62,507
signatures from Arkansas' registered voters, and he doesn't expect
problems getting enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

"I think the momentum will definitely be there," he said. Arkansas
voters in November narrowly rejected a similar ballot measure, Issue
5, which sought to legalize the medical use of marijuana.

Arkansans for Responsible Marijuana's proposal doesn't include the
"grow your own" provision that was in the 2012 ballot measure, because
voters are more likely to approve the measure without it, Kell said.

In November, Couch said a provision that would have allowed patients
who live more than 5 miles from a medical marijuana dispensary to grow
marijuana "is what really cost us." A foe of the measure, Family
Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox, agreed with
Couch at that time.

Cox said Tuesday night that "we are going to fight [the latest ballot
measure] every step of the way.

"This bad for our state," he said. " It is bad for the children of
state, and I don't know of anybody who believes introducing more
addictive substances into our society is a good thing."

According to Arkansans for Responsible Medicine's ballot title, a yes
vote would make the medical use of marijuana legal under state law,
but it acknowledges that marijuana use, possession and distribution
for any purpose remain illegal under federal law.

Among other things, the proposal would establish a system for
cultivating, acquiring and distributing marijuana for qualifying
patients through nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries and grant
the dispensaries limited immunity, according to the ballot title. It
would allow local governments to limit the number of nonprofit
dispensaries and to enact reasonable zoning regulations governing
their operations.

It would provide that qualifying patients and nonprofit dispensary
agents wouldn't be subject to criminal or civil penalties or other
forms of discrimination for engaging in or assisting with patients'
medical use of marijuana.

The proposed ballot measure would require a person to submit to the
state a written certification from a doctor licensed in Arkansas that
he is suffering from a qualifying medical condition, the ballot title
states.

The state Department of Health would help regulate medical marijuana
programs.

Another group, Arkansans for Compassionate Care 2014, is trying to
pass a similar measure, which it calls the Arkansas Medical Marijuana
Act. On Tuesday, McDaniel rejected a proposed popular name and ballot
title submitted by that group.

The proposal is similar to the measure submitted by Arkansans for
Responsible Medicine, but it would allow for limited cultivation of
marijuana by qualifying patients and designated caregivers if the
qualifying patient and his designated caregiver lack access to
reasonable transportation to a nonprofit dispensary and obtain a
hardship cultivation certificate from the Health Department.

McDaniel said he rejected the proposal because of ambiguities in the
text of the measure.

Melissa Fults, campaign director for Arkansans for Compassionate Care,
said the group plans to resubmit a revised proposal to McDaniel's office.
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MAP posted-by: Matt