Supreme Court orders signature count on medical marijuana measure

The day after an advocacy group filed a lawsuit over the rejection of its signatures, the Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday (Oct. 2) ordered the disputed signatures of a proposed medical marijuana amendment, Issue 3, to be counted and it approved an expedited hearing to decide if the measure would be on the Nov. 5 ballot.

On Monday (Sept. 30), Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said Arkansans for Patient Access (APA), the ballot question committee seeking approval of Issue 3, did not meet the signature threshold of 90,704. Thurston cited incorrect filings of signatures as his reason for the rejection.

The state’s high court ordered the following actions take place in response to the filing by Arkansans for Patient Access:

• A preliminary injunction is granted;
• Secretary of State John Thurston must verify the disputed signatures;
• The group’s requested hearing on Thurston’s decision will be expedited; and
• A special master will not be appointed to the case, in opposition to APA’s request.

Issue 3 would make a number of changes to an amendment passed by voters in 2016 that legalized medical marijuana. Those would include allowing access based on any medical need rather than the current list of qualifying ailments; allowing patients and designated adult caregivers to grow up to 14 marijuana plants; and allowing physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists to certify medical marijuana cards.

The amendment also would allow patients to be certified by visiting a medical practitioner via telemedicine. It also would make medical marijuana available to individuals who are not Arkansas residents. It would remove application fees for identification cards and would lengthen the expiration date for new cards from one year to three.

The amendment also includes a trigger law allowing adults to possess an ounce of cannabis if marijuana is no longer listed on the federal government’s Schedule of Controlled Substances or if Congress changes the law so that marijuana possession is no longer a federal crime.

A recent Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College Poll, showed that the medical marijuana proposal, referred to as Issue 3, had 54% support compared to 35.5% opposition.

Protect Arkansas Kids is a state ballot question committee seeking to keep the measure off the ballot. They were allowed by the Supreme Court to intervene in the case.

The court gave all parties until Friday 4 p.m. to make filings on behalf of their groups and the state. Responses to those briefings must be filed by Monday at noon.