Pubdate: Tue, 08 Oct 2013
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)
Copyright: 2013 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact: http://www2.arkansasonline.com/contact/voicesform/
Website: http://www2.arkansasonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/25
Note: Accepts letters to the editor from Arkansas residents only

JUST SAY NO THANK YOU

'Medical' Marijuana Back in the News

"The people of Arkansas gave medical marijuana a thumbs down. But 
just barely. The measure got 49 percent of the vote. The state might 
have dodged that bullet, but there's no telling when medical 
marijuana will be back on the ballot in this sometimes all too 
Natural State." - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 12, 2013

WHO COULD have known that what supporters call "medical" marijuana 
would have come so close to being available in Arkansas? Back in the 
fall of 2012, a measure to make medical marijuana legal in this state 
got 49 percent of the vote.

The good news is that 51 percent was enough to kill the idea. Or at 
least wound it.

Imagine so slim a margin of victory in a state where you could drive 
from the Louisiana state line to Missouri without ever going through 
a wet county. (Note to the curious with a road map: You'd have to 
drive some back roads, start south of Magnolia and end up somewhere 
in southeast Missouri, but you could do it.)

And that oh-so-close vote for, and against, medical marijuana came in 
an election in which Mitt Romney overwhelmingly carried the state. So 
a lot of Romney voters cast ballots FOR medical marijuana? How 'bout 
that? Arkansas'll fool the experts-and the rest of us-every time.

There's just no telling with this state's voters. The classic 
example: Back in 1968, Arkansas went for a Republican governor 
(Rockefeller, W.), a Democratic U.S. senator (Fulbright, J.W.) and an 
independent for president (Wallace, G.). The moral of the story: 
Watch out if you try to pigeonhole the Arkansas voter.

Those who supported a medical marijuana law last year said they were 
encouraged by the vote. And they said they'd be back. They are. The 
attorney general of Arkansas, one Dustin McDaniel, certified a ballot 
title for an outfit called Arkansans for Compassionate Care last 
week. That means the group can start collecting signatures for 
another medical-marijuana vote. It has until July to collect more 
than 62,000 signatures from registered voters.

That makes two outfits looking to make medical marijuana legal in 
this state. Just so far. Another group got its certification a few 
months back. It may be a little confusing about which is which, and 
which bunch wants folks to be able to grow their own weed, and which 
doesn't. But there's an easy way to keep everything straight if you 
don't want so-called medical marijuana laws in Arkansas: Don't sign 
any petition on the subject just now. Just Say No. Or, better yet, No 
Thank You. We're still polite in Arkansas.

NOBODY wants sick folks to suffer even more than they do. Which is no 
doubt why Arkansans for Compassionate Care gave itself that name. As 
if the rest of us were Arkansans for Cruel Care.

But please note: Anybody in need of pain relief from the drug in 
marijuana should be able to get that relief in a pill distributed by 
a legal, above-the-board pharmacist without the need to have little 
marijuana farms sprouting all over the Natural State. And we've never 
heard anybody explain, not convincingly anyway, how to keep the 
medical marijuana in Aunt Sally's purse out of Little Jenny's hands.

Colorado passed a medical marijuana law back in 2000. It was only a 
dozen years later that it went ahead and passed a law allowing for 
the recreational use of pot, too. Now it's smoke 'em if you got ' em 
in Colorado. Talk about your Rocky Mountain high.

They call marijuana a gateway drug. These medical-marijuana measures 
are gateway laws. If medical marijuana passes here in Arkansas, how 
long will it be before recreational use is perfectly legal, too?

Oh, it's just psychologically addictive, defenders of Mary Jane will 
say. Though scientists may not. Either way, whether marijuana is 
psychologically or physcially addictive-why can't it be both?-it can 
be just as addictive.

Here's a simple way to avoid all such questions, complications and 
dangers: Just keep all such laws off the books in Arkansas. So don't 
sign those petitions floating around Arkansas. Just say no thank you.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom