Recreational marijuana legalization is on the ballot for arkansas this November

Marijuana legalization is on the ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota next week, a reflection of the growing momentum nationwide to lift penalties once associated with the drug.

If approved, the states would join the 19 (along with Washington, DC) where recreational use is currently legal. Thirty-seven states, three territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of marijuana products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Medical marijuana is currently legal in each of the five states that will vote on recreational use this month.

Arkansas

A constitutional amendment known as Issue 4 would allow cannabis possession and consumption by adults as well as the sale by licensed facilities. It would allow cannabis possession of up to an ounce and some tax revenue would contribute to funding law enforcement.

Melissa Fults, a board member of the Arkansas chapter for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, known as NORML, has expressed dismay about the proposed amendment because she says it would create a “huge monopoly” for Arkansas’ cultivators and retailers. The initiative would create 12 additional cultivation facility licenses and a lottery for 40 additional adult-use dispensary licenses to join the 80 that will be given to existing medical dispensaries.

She also criticized the lack of an avenue for people who have been convicted of marijuana offenses to expunge their criminal record.

“It was written by the cultivators, paid for by the cultivators and only benefits the cultivators. It will hurt patients, consumers and Arkansans,” Fults told CNN. “If passed, it will be the WORST and most expensive marijuana program in the nation.”

The Family Council Action Committee, which is typically on the opposite side of NORML when it comes to relaxing marijuana laws, also voiced concerns over proposed regulation.

“If Issue 4 passes, Arkansas will have one of the least regulated cannabis industries in America,” Jerry Cox, the executive director of The Family Council Action Committee, told CNN. “State and local officials will be powerless to restrict marijuana or raise taxes on it. A handful of businesses and bureaucrats will control marijuana in Arkansas. That is a recipe for disaster.”

Via CNN