Attorney general approves ballot proposal for changes to Arkansas medical marijuana laws
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A group’s plan to put medical marijuana accessibility changes before Arkansas voters in November crossed a major milestone with approval of the ballot proposal on Tuesday.
Attorney General Tim Griffin approved a ballot proposal under its popular name Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024. If approved by voters it would change the current medical marijuana laws, Amendment 98 to the Arkansas constitution, increasing access for patients.
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Included in the proposed changes is who is qualified to sign off on medical marijuana cards. Currently, that role is limited to doctors, but the proposal would add nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants and pharmacists to the list.
Another proposed change is patients could be certified via a telemedicine visit with a physician instead of the current in-person requirement.
The qualifying medical condition language in the current law would also be broadened to include whatever a health care practitioner feels is debilitating for a patient and could be treated with marijuana.
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Medical marijuana cards would also expire after three years under the proposal, instead of the current one-year limit. The measure would also add two years until expiration for current cardholders.
The proposal’s language also allows those with a medical marijuana card to grow their own plants “in limited quantities and sizes at their domicile solely for the personal use of a qualifying patient.” Cardholders would not be able to sell their personal plants.
If the federal government loosens marijuana laws to permit adult use, current dispensaries and cultivation facilities will be able to sell to any adult.
Melissa Fults, board member of Arkansas NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said she was happy the proposal was approved, as it would “fix so many problems that Amendment 98 contains.”
Fults also pointed out that the loosening of physician requirements for cards would ease access for those in rural areas who do not always have ready access to a physician.
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The group Arkansans for Patient Access has been supporting the proposal through the process and is now organizing the next step in the ballot process, the signature gathering to get it placed on the ballot.
Bill Paschall with the group said they were eager to begin the signature-gathering process. For the measure to be placed on the ballot it will have to submit 90,704 voter signatures from at least 50 of the 75 counties in Arkansas to the attorney general by July 5.
“We are confident that Arkansans will respond positively and ultimately vote for the proposed amendment because it will reduce barriers to obtaining a medical marijuana card, eliminate the annual renewal hassle, and give patients more product choices,” Paschall said.
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The current medical marijuana constitutional amendment was approved by voters in 2016.
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