Unusual ballot issue draws broad lines, odd partnerships on Prohibition-era 'dry' option

OZARK, Ark.- Arkansas liquor stores have allied with religious leaders to fight statewide legalization of alcohol sales. The stores in wet counties don't want to lose customers. The churches don't want to lose souls.

A ballot issue next week asks voters whether to amend their constitution to permit sales of intoxicating liquors in all 75 counties, up from about half. Passage would further erode the shrinking swath of America, mostly in the South, clinging to vestiges of Prohibition even as cultural attitudes and waning religious influence have killed it off elsewhere.

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Why hasn't the United States government done more since the '60s to stop the flow or destroy the source of incoming drugs from Colombia and Mexico?

Why haven't we napalmed the coca plant fields in Colombia and the marijuana fields in Mexico? Why is our Air Force practicing touch-and-go missions in central Arkansas instead of flying reconnaissance of our southern borders of California, Arizona and Texas? Why aren't more observation drones being used in this so-called war on drugs?

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Some Americans and their politicians do not like the fact that children from Central America are now coming to the U.S. Many of these children are fleeing drug-gang violence in their home countries. The drug gangs are fighting for the control of the drug traffic to users in the U.S. The unnatural, insatiable appetite of American drug users fuels the Central American violence.

I believe our politicians and the mass media are ignoring the obvious reasons for the problem. Outraged protesters want to stop the influx of these children and have tried to block the buses that transport them to centers where they can be processed. I think these misguided and shallow-thinking protesters and other Americans that think like them should focus their efforts on stopping American drug users. One of these drug users might be living right next door to you, or you might even know one in your own family.

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But the Fight Is Still Far From Over

IT LOOKS as if this fall's ballot in the general election here in Arkansas may be free of anything about marijuana. Call it a smoke-free election. Which is good. There's enough mud in the air as it is.

Word began filtering out on social media Monday. Those who run websites proposing legalization of weed for medicinal purposes began thanking their supporters, but putting out what was, for them, the bad news: They didn't get enough signatures in time to make the November ballot. Word also began circulating that another effort, one to legalize weed altogether, also failed to get the required number of signatures. The good news just kept coming.

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Since Oct. 1, U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 52,000 children traveling alone from Central America and Mexico. Many of these kids made the dangerous trip to escape even more dangerous conditions in their home countries.

According to a 2013 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees survey of 400 children who fled to the United States from Central America and Mexico, nearly half said drug cartel and gang violence had affected them personally, while 20 percent said they had been abused or otherwise experienced violence in their own homes.

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Not Entitled to Reduction, Panel Rules

A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a more than 81/2-year sentence for former Little Rock police officer Mark Anthony Jones. He admitted to helping escort a load of marijuana across the city in 2012 - but later said he did so only because the FBI dangled an irresistible wad of cash in front of him.

Jones, 47, argued at his sentencing hearing in late October that because he cooperated with prosecutors, he was entitled to a sentence below the 97- to 121-month penalty range recommended by federal sentencing guidelines.

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Marijuana Cupcake, Anyone?

A MOMENT, please, on the latest from the Wild, Wild, ever Wilder West: The business section isn't the place where you usually find the paper's horror stories. They're supposed to be limited to the reviews of scare flicks.

But there it was, a story in Saturday's business section, about . . . edible pot. And scary ain't the half of it.

Now that Colorado has legalized marijuana for recreational use-that's the next step after a state legalizes medical marijuana-folks out there are putting dope in their food. And not just their own food. Comes word from the Associated Press that some businesses in Colorado now offer weed in their cookies and cupcakes.

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It seems the Jason Rapert brain freeze spewed so much political humor that an equally humongous gaffe got by most people.

The same time the Reverend Rapert was doing his thing, Supreme Leader Jerry Cox had an experienced police officer from Colorado come down to preach against all things pertaining to marijuana, pot, cannabis, hemp and chocolate chip cookies. ( His 40 pounds of experience hung proudly over his belt.)

The officer assured Jerry and all four of his followers that if Arkansas allowed medical marijuana, recreational marijuana, and two- for-one Ding Dong sales, this state would go to pot. ( Sorry, could not pass on that one.)

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It seems the Jason Rapert brain freeze spewed so much political humor that an equally humongous gaffe got by most people.

The same time the Reverend Rapert was doing his thing, Supreme Leader Jerry Cox had an experienced police officer from Colorado come down to preach against all things pertaining to marijuana, pot, cannabis, hemp and chocolate chip cookies. (His 40 pounds of experience hung proudly over his belt.)

The officer assured Jerry and all four of his followers that if Arkansas allowed medical marijuana, recreational marijuana, and two-for-one Ding Dong sales, this state would go to pot. (Sorry, could not pass on that one.)

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Come November, Arkansas voters could be the first in the South to decide whether or not to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Last week, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel certified the wording of a proposed state constitutional amendment called "The Arkansas Hemp and Cannabis Amendment."

The amendment would allow the "cultivation, distribution, sale and use of the cannabis plant" and all products derived from the plant throughout the state.

The Legislature would have the authority to regulate, but not ban pot in the state. Now all supporters have to do is gather more than 78,000 signatures of registered Arkansas voters to secure the proposal a spot on the November ballot. Not an easy task. But not impossible, either. Two other ballot initiates regarding legal marijuana could end up on the ballot as well. Both would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, not recreational.

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Anti-marijuana advocates met in Little Rock on Friday to hear from Sgt. Jim Gerhardt, a Colorado police officer who said legalization has caused major problems in his state.

The event, held at the state Chamber of Commerce and coordinated by the conservative Arkansas Family Council and law enforcement officials, focused on marijuana-related initiatives proposed for the November ballot.

Gerhardt has been a vocal opponent of pro-marijuana efforts in and beyond Colorado. Speaking from his experience with the Thornton (Colo.) Police Department and the Denver-based North Metro Drug Task Force, he urged attendees not to support legalization in Arkansas.

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Who's Trying to Jump Ahead in This Game?

Well I double-dog dare ya! Now it was serious. A double-dog dare. What else was there but a triple dare you, and then, the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog dare. I triple-dog dare ya! Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!

- -From the best scene in A Christmas Story

WHAT'S happened here? This week the attorney general of Arkansas approved a ballot title for a constitutional amendment to legalize the possession and use of marijuana. Not just medical marijuana, either. The latest proposal would legalize the whole, dopey crop. For use next door, downstairs, across the way, or at the kitchen table. Not that any of this is the attorney general's fault. Dustin McDaniel's job, or one of them, is to make sure ballot titles meet constitutional standards, that's all, and he says this latest proposal does. So he did his duty. But still. Did we skip a step here? Here's the way the game is supposed to be played: First comes approval of medical marijuana. A proposition its pushers say would only allow the weed to be used by the sick and hurting who need the dope to assuage pain and increase appetite. Not that many of us, or maybe any of us, ever bought that. Because you know the kids always manage to find a way to get into the stash. (Think back to when you were a teen and from time to time took more than a look at the old man's liquor cabinet.)

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Legalization Bid Gains Ballot Title

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Wednesday approved the popular name and ballot title for a proposed constitutional amendment to make the "cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, sale, and possession and use" of marijuana legal in the state.

If the proposal gets on the fall ballot and is approved by voters, it will take effect April 20.

In a letter to the proposal's author, Robert Reed of Dennard in Van Buren County, McDaniel wrote that his review was limited to ensuring that the wording "honestly, intelligibly, and fairly" explains the purpose of the proposed amendment. McDaniel wrote that the proposed popular name was sufficient but that he substituted a "more suitable, complete and correct popular name and ballot title" and certified it.

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The Arkansas Attorney General's Office has certified the wording of a ballot proposal that would legalize marijuana in Arkansas.

The Wednesday opinion opens the way for the measure's sponsor, Robert L. Reed, to begin gathering petition signatures in hope of placing the measure on the ballot.

According to the proposal, voters would decide whether to approve making it legal to grow and possess marijuana and all products derived from the cannabis plant.

The measure would be a constitutional amendment, which means backers would have to gather 78,133 valid signatures of registered voters to win a spot on the November ballot.

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The Arkansas attorney general's office has again rejected the proposed wording for a prospective ballot item that would let voters decide whether to legalize marijuana in the state.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's office on Friday told the group Arkansans for Medical Cannabis that the proposal is ambiguous and needs to make clearer what it would do.

McDaniel has previously rejected more than a half dozen of the group's proposals.

The group needs the attorney general's approval before it can start collecting signatures in an effort to get the measure on the ballot.

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Modern times and the progression of marijuana laws call for a standard of proofing different types of marijuana strains. Marijuana is used today by many people around the United States for medical problems, such as nerve pain or chemotherapy-related nausea.

Would the government allow people to consume any type of other medication without strict guidelines on the drug and its ingredients? I think the federal government and FDA need to step in and require the regulation of all marijuana and THC-containing edibles to ensure public health and safety. Marijuana is not yet legal in all 50 states for medicinal use, but in the future it most likely will be, and there should be measures put into place ahead of time.

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Doctors are well-respected around the United States. I think you will rarely find doctors in today's world with any problems or anything wrong with them. But to be on the safe side, in my opinion, doctors, just like everyone else, should be drug-tested. To get other jobs you have to be drug-tested, so why can't doctors be like others and be drug-tested as well?

Some doctors could be all doped up while working on patients; who wants a doctor working on them while there's something wrong with them and they're not in their right mind? The way people are dying, we don't need the people we depend on and trust the most with our sickness to be the cause of deaths.

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Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Friday rejected the popular name and ballot title of a proposed initiated act to make it legal to cultivate, sell and use "the cannabis plant."

McDaniel wrote in a letter to the measure's author, Arkansans for Medical Cannabis Chairman Robert Reed, that he was rejecting the items because of ambiguities in the text of the proposal.

McDaniel wrote that it was not clear to whom the proposal would apply and what regulatory authority, if any, the Legislature would have over the "right to cultivate, manufacture, distribute, sell and use" marijuana.

McDaniel has rejected at least five other similar submissions from Reed.

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Dear editor:

Marijuana is not a harmless drug that users are led to believe. The U. S. government classifies it in the most dangerous category, along with heroin, LSD and Ecstasy, and it is highly addictive.

The effects of marijuana are much more severe than alcohol. It is a "mind altering" drug. It impairs your judgment, which results in reckless and irresponsible decisions you wouldn't ordinarily make, oftentimes leaving terrible consequences. It stays in your system and continues to build up with usage. Just one joint will test positive a month after using it and children around you will test positive as well.

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A new conventional wisdom is on the rise: Drug prohibition, or "the war on drugs," is a costly flop. It not only failed to cut drug use and associated social ills significantly but has also imposed additional social costs-or "catastrophic harm," as my colleague Radley Balko put it-far exceeding the benefits. Those costs include violent crime linked to the black-market drug trade as well as the mass arrest and incarceration of small-time users, a disproportionate number of whom are African American.

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