Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – September 1, 2024 – A committee that supports an amendment that would scale back the rules controlling the medical marijuana industry in Arkansas is one step closer to getting the amendment on the November 5 general election ballot. The group Arkansans for Patient Access turned in 38,933 additional signatures to Secretary of State John Thurston’s office Friday.
The committee submitted their first group of 108,512 signatures on July 5. Thurston’s staff verified that some 77,000 signatures were valid registered voter signatures. That represented 85% of the 90,704 signatures needed for a constitutional amendment to qualify for the ballot.
State law allows ballot question committees 30 days to collect more signatures if the initial submission contains at least 75% of the overall required number of valid signatures and 75% of the required number from at least 50 counties.
The goal of the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024 is to improve patient access, especially for those with lower incomes and people living in rural areas where access to primary care physicians is limited.
Physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists would be able to certify patients for medical marijuana cards if the amendment passes.
Health care providers would be able to conduct patient assessment via telemedicine, and providers would be permitted to qualify patients based on medical need, rather than the existing 18 qualifying conditions outlined by the current law. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is the number one prescribing condition listed in the 2023 Arkansas Medical Marijuana Report.
If approved, the ballot initiative would also allow patients and designated caregivers older than 21 to grow up to seven mature marijuana plants and seven young plants. The measure also would totally eliminate application fees for patient cards and extend the term of the card from one to three years.
Voters in 2022 turned down an amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana. The amendment drew criticism from groups that support legalization, arguing it gave too much power to a small number of people in the marijuana industry.
The latest amendment contains what’s called a “trigger law” meaning that if recreational marijuana ever becomes federally legal, existing dispensaries in Arkansas would be able to sell recreational marijuana it.
One issue adding fuel to the effort to get the amendment on the ballot has been sale of recreational marijuana in the neighboring state of Missouri. Recreational sales to Arkansas residents by Missouri recreational dispensaries appear to be putting sales pressure on some Arkansas medical marijuana dispensaries. Billboards have been purchased in Arkansas by Missouri dispensary owners promoting the availability of marijuana from their recreational dispensaries across state lines. One such billboard is posted adjacent to the Main Street overpass in Downtown Jonesboro by CODES, which owns a recreational dispensary across the state line in Cardwell, MO.
Arkansas medical marijuana dispensaries are limited on the type of advertising they can do. “Dispensaries and cultivation facilities in the state can advertise, but it’s limited,” said Scott Hardin, spokesperson for the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission. “Let’s say a dispensary wanted to run a billboard, that dispensary would have to prove to the state that children are not seeing that consistently and that children don’t comprise a significant portion of that audience.” With a billboard, Hardin said that would be nearly impossible.
New billboards were placed earlier this year along I-49 in Northwest Arkansas encouraging drivers to not bring marijuana back to Arkansas from Missouri dispensaries.
Medical cannabis dispensaries in Arkansas recorded $135.5 million in sales from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year, down from $141 million during the same six-month period in 2023. That’s a decrease of $5.5 million, or 4%, over the same period. No one has confidently said the drop is related to the pressure from Missouri recreational sales.
There are two medical marijuana dispensaries located in Craighead County. CROP is located at 2929 South Caraway Road in Jonesboro. CROP was among the top five dispensaries in the state during second quarter 2024 reporting 1,122 pounds of marijuana sold. NEA Full Spectrum is located at 12001 Highway 49 Brookland just South of the Craighead-Greene County line. Full Spectrum reported selling 592 pounds of marijuana during second quarter 2024. On June 1, 2023 the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission approved a request from NEA Full Spectrum to relocate to the Hilltop area across from Tommy’s Carwash in Jonesboro. That project is currently under construction.
The 2023 Arkansas Marijuana Report (Arkansas Department of Health) showed there were 3,414 medical marijuana cards issued in Craighead County.