Pubdate: Mon, 27 Jul 2015
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)
Pubdate: 27 Jul 2015
Copyright: 2015 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
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Note: Accepts letters to the editor from Arkansas residents only
Author: Debra Hale-Shelton

POT PROPOSALS DENIED, MAN PLANS APPEAL

CONWAY - A Van Buren County man isn't giving up on his cause, even 
though the attorney general's office has rejected five proposed 
ballot titles that would have asked voters to legalize marijuana for 
various purposes.

Four of Robert Reed's proposals would have provided for voters to 
decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment allowing for 
either industrial or agricultural uses and medical uses of marijuana. 
The other proposal would have let voters decide whether to pass an 
amendment legalizing all uses of marijuana, including recreational.

Reed - who lives in Dennard, a small community between Clinton and 
Marshall - said he suffers from an "extremely painful" bone disease 
and fears the potential side effects of painkillers now available to him.

During a recent visit to Conway, the 61- year-old Vietnam veteran was 
using a cane.

He said he plans to appeal the most recent denials, on July 20, by 
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who cited "ambiguities" in two 
proposals he submitted. Such an appeal, he said, would go to the 
Arkansas Supreme Court.

Among other things, Rutledge wrote in a July 20 letter to Reed his 
agricultural and medical title was "misleading in that it could cause 
voters to erroneously conclude that the amendment pertains only to 
'agricultural' hemp and medical marijuana when, in fact, the proposal 
makes lawful the selling, etc., of all cannabis for all uses."

Of his more wide-ranging proposal, titled End Cannabis Prohibition 
for short, Rutledge also cited several problems.

"It may be that the world 'prohibition' carries negative overtones 
that would prompt voters to vote for the proposal solely on the basis 
of the popular name," the Republican wrote.

Other problems she cited included what she described as a "number of 
errors of syntax and typing that do not evidence the care that should 
be taken in an attempt to amend the Constitution."

Reed - who described himself as a "registered cannabis lobbyist" in 
Arkansas - said he's been trying to get a marijuana issue on the 
ballot since 2012, when Dustin McDaniel, a Democrat, was attorney general.

"I've probably been at it longer than anyone" else in the state, he said.

His wife, Theresa, is a cancer survivor and would have benefited from 
medical marijuana when she was sick, he said.

As for whether marijuana would help his pain, Reed said he doesn't 
know. He can't try it to find out, he said, because it's not legal in Arkansas.

But Reed said he stands to benefit from marijuana legalization 
because he could feed hemp seed to his livestock.

Reed said he also believes Arkansas would benefit economically from 
the legalization of industrial and agricultural marijuana.

When asked about Rutledge's views on the legalization of marijuana, 
spokesman Judd Deere said in an email: "Based on her experience as a 
prosecutor and as the chief law enforcement officer of the State, 
Attorney General Rutledge does not support the legalization of 
marijuana in Arkansas."

But Deere said the attorney general's office "has been given no 
authority to consider the merits of any measure when considering the 
sufficiency of a proposed ballot title."

Rather, he wrote, "The Attorney General is charged with this 
responsibility under [ Arkansas Annotated Code 7-9-107], which 
requires the Attorney General to determine whether the popular names 
and ballot titles of certain ballot measures meet legal requirements 
before an entity may begin soliciting signatures for an initiative to 
be placed on the ballot."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom