Court takes Arkansas medical cannabis expansion from voters

A voter initiative that would have expanded medical cannabis access in Arkansas has been disallowed by the state’s Supreme Court, which declared that a proposed constitutional amendment is “plainly misleading.”

The Monday ruling came roughly two weeks before Election Day and, thus, was too late to remove Arkansans for Patient Access’ measure from voters’ ballots.

Instead, the high court ordered elections officials not to count any votes cast for the initiative.

‘Did not fully inform voters’

According to the majority opinion in the 4-3 ruling, the justices ruled that the measure’s authors “did not fully inform voters” that state lawmakers would no longer have the power to amend the 2016 law that legalized MMJ in the state.

The news is a blow to the state’s medical marijuana industry, which is shrinking this year after posting a record $283 million in sales in 2023.

Monday’s ruling appears to be the final twist in a monthslong saga in which there have been multiple efforts to remove the proposed constitutional amendment from the ballot.

The proposed Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024 would have:

• Expanded who can approve medical cannabis cards and allow providers to assess patients through telemedicine.
• Allowed MMJ authorization for any ailment, not just the state’s existing 18 qualifying conditions.
• Permitted adult use if the federal government were to legalize it.
• Legalized home cultivation of marijuana.

Many hurdles for medical marijuana expansion

Shortly after the measure was submitted in January, the state attorney general initially rejected the proposed ballot language, prompting a rewrite.

Earlier this month, elections officials declared the petition drive to qualify the measure for the ballot had fallen 2,600 signatures short of the roughly 91,000 required.

That decision prompted a lawsuit that culminated in Monday’s 4-3 ruling.

In a statement, Arkansans for Patient Access rued the decision but seemed to accept the campaign had run out of options.

“It seems politics has triumphed over legal precedent,” the group said in a statement to the AP.