Pubdate: Sun, 08 Dec 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
Author: Sean Beherec
Page: 1B

'POT' BILL ACTIVISTS EXPECT SUCCESS

But 2 Proposals Vying for Funding

Sponsors of two proposed constitutional amendments to allow the
medicinal use of marijuana expect their measures to get on the ballot
in 2014 and to pass.

But they'll have to compete for campaign funding at a time when
marijuana activists are shifting their focus to complete legalization.
And instead of having a united front, two Arkansas pro-marijuana
groups will be vying for support.

The two proposed constitutional amendments - The Arkansas Medical
Marijuana Act by Arkansans for Responsible Medicine and The Arkansas
Medical Cannabis Act by Arkansans for Compassionate Care - would allow
certain people legal access to marijuana, but would not legalize
recreational use of the drug.

If either of the measures is approved in November, Arkansas will join
20 other states, and Washington, D.C., in allowing people with certain
medical conditions legal access to the drug. It also would be the
first state in the South to do so.

Melissa Fults, the founder of Arkansans for Compassionate Care, which
sponsored a ballot initiative last year, said her group has seen
growing support for the legalization of medical marijuana. Fults said
the group has deployed about 300 volunteers who already have recorded
several thousand signatures, compared with about a dozen volunteers in
the early stages of the 2012 campaign.

"We have a huge volunteer base this time around," Fults
said.

The group's Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act failed to pass in November
2012, but received 48.56 percent of the vote, or 507,757 votes.

Medical-marijuana activists heavily outspent opponents.

The Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values, which helped lead the
anti-medical marijuana campaign, reported raising just $14,200. The
Family Council Action Committee, which also opposed the measure,
reported raising $49,271 through 2012, while supporters collected and
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The push for the legalization of medical marijuana in the state was
largely driven by one group. The Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana
Policy Project reported raising and spending $696,326.08 on the
Arkansas effort, according to records filed in December 2012 with the
Arkansas Ethics Commission.

Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the group, said its focus has shifted
from medical marijuana to initiatives that would legalize the drug for
all uses with some regulations, such as the laws in place in Colorado
and Washington state. Oregon and Alaska are both "very likely" to pass
such laws within the next year, and the group will support initiatives
in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana and Nevada for
2016, he said.

Tvert cited an October Gallup poll that showed 58 percent of Americans
support legalization of marijuana, compared with 12 percent in 1969,
the first year the firm posed the question, and 48 percent in 2012.
Support for medical marijuana also has been recorded at between 70
percent and 80 percent in national polls, he said.

But Tvert said the Marijuana Policy Project may provide resources for
Arkansas' medical-marijuana proposals if the measures receive enough
signatures to get on the ballot in 2014.

"There was significant support for the medical-marijuana [initiative]
in the 2012 election, and we would love for Arkansas to be the first
Southern state to adopt a medical-marijuana law," Tvert said.

In the meantime, Arkansas' most visible pro-medical marijuana group
has yet to begin significant fundraising, according to campaign
finance reports. Arkansans for Compassionate Care reported having
$554.58 in its coffers as of Oct. 31, and $400 of that was a loan from
the group's president.

On its 2013 campaign finance reports, filed in September and November,
Arkansans for Responsible Medicine reported zero contributions, zero
expenditures and zero cash on hand.

David Couch, the group's founder, said he expects to gain more support
this year than when voters narrowly rejected the 2012 proposal. He
said he has received more calls and been approached by more people who
are interested in the proposal.

"People come up to me on the street and say 'Are you guys doing this
again?'... And they're receptive and thankful," Couch said.

The Arkansas Constitution allows residents to propose laws,
constitutional amendments and referendums by submitting a petition to
the secretary of state.

The popular name and ballot title of all proposed constitutional
amendments and initiated acts must be certified by the attorney
general as clear and unambiguous to voters. Most measures require
several revisions before approval.

After the name and title are approved, sponsors must submit the
proposed language of the petition that they will present for
signatures to the secretary of state. After the petition's signature
page is approved, petitioners collect signatures and turn them in to
the secretary of state for certification.

If the sponsors collect the necessary number of signatures, the
measure is included on the ballot.

The two medical-marijuana proposals are the only measures in the
signature-gathering stage, according to the secretary of state's office.

The Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act would create a system by which
qualifying patients could purchase and use medical marijuana. Fults
said her measure also contains several "patient protections," such as
a hardship clause for patients or caregivers to grow their own
marijuana when they are unable to travel to a dispensary.

Couch said he split with Arkansans for Compassionate Care over
disagreements over what he called the "grow-your-own provision." Couch
said the provision was the hang-up for many voters who otherwise would
have supported the measure in 2012.

"I just believe that the proposal that they're putting forth, that the
people of Arkansas are not going to approve it," Couch said.

Couch said The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act also would utilize
nonprofit marijuana dispensaries and would be "highly regulated,
highly controlled."

Jerry Cox, the executive director of the Family Council Action
Committee, said both measures are a "backdoor way to legalize
marijuana in the state." Cox said his group plans to campaign against
both proposals, which he said also would lead to more drug addiction
and would rob people of their potential.

Cox said that he thinks support for medical marijuana in the state is
waning, because there is a lack of medical evidence to support it.

"I think there's a growing number of people beginning to understand it
and see it the way it is," Cox said.

The attorney general's office has received several other
marijuana-related proposals in recent months, which vary in scope and
regulations.

One proposal would establish a study on the economic effect of
legalizing the drug, whose participants would be allowed to cultivate
and use marijuana. Another proposal would legalize the drug for
industrial and medicinal uses, as well as an intoxicant. A third would
legalize marijuana without any regulations.

The attorney general had not certified the popular name or ballot
title for those measures Friday afternoon.
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MAP posted-by: Matt