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Little Rock, AR: State election officials have determined that proponents of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 failed to collect sufficient signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. Campaign proponents Arkansans for Patient Access have filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court contesting the Secretary of State’s decision.
In their lawsuit, proponents allege that election officials “arbitrarily” excluded an estimated 20,000 signatures from registered voters. They have asked the court to take expedited action on the matter.
Ballots for the 2024 election have already been printed.
The Amendment seeks to revise the state’s existing medical cannabis access law, which voters approved in 2016. (Voters rejected a separate adult-use legalization initiative in 2022.) It expands the pool of practitioners permitted to recommend medical cannabis and it would allow providers to recommend cannabis to any patient who they believe will benefit from it, among other modifications. Separate provisions in the amendment authorize adults to legally possess up to one ounce of cannabis if the federal government removes it from the Controlled Substances Act.
If proponents’ litigation is successful, Arkansas will join four other states – Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota – where election officials have certified marijuana-related ballot measures for the ballot. (In Nebraska, the state’s decision to certify a pair of medical cannabis legalization initiatives is being challenged in court.)
Statewide survey data published last month finds that most likely voters support the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment.
Additional Election 2024 coverage is available from NORML.
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