Arkansas Supreme Court Disqualifies One of Two Medical Marijuana Initiatives from November Ballot

The Arkansas Supreme Court disqualified one medical marijuana initiative from the November ballot, but voters will still be able to vote for a competing amendment.

The court disqualified Issue 7 because it found that there were not enough valid signatures on the petition to qualify it for the ballot. The court disallowed more than 12,000 signatures, leaving the petition with 65,412 signatures. The petition needed nearly 68,000 signatures.

Supporters of Issue 7 have said that it was written from a patient-centered position, as it allowed more qualifying conditions for the use of medical marijuana as well as the ability for a patient to grow their own plants if they lived a certain numbers of miles away from a dispensary.

Arkansas for Compassionate Care, who led the campaign for Issue 7, posted today on their Facebook page that they would continue to fight in court for the allowance of the initiative on the November ballot. The post also urged Arkansas voters to still vote yes to the competing amendment, Issue 6, should they ultimately lose in a higher court.

Read more: http://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2016/10/27/arkansas-supreme-court-disqualifies-one-of-two-medical-marijuana-initiatives-from-november-ballot