Arkansas Medical Cannabis Initiative Has Signatures to Qualify for November Ballot

The Director of Elections at the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office said last week the petition to expand the state’s medical cannabis program has enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, THV11 reports.

“I can confirm that no less than 91,000 signatures were verified pursuant to the counting as ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court.” — Leslie Bellamy, director of elections, in the report

The admission came after Secretary of State John Thurston said previously that the signature-gathering effort by Arkansans for Patient Access, the group behind the medical cannabis expansions campaign, had fallen more than 2,000 signatures short of the 91,000 signature threshold to qualify for the ballot.

But the campaign appealed, arguing that Thurston failed to consider signatures collected during a “cure period” granted after the campaign initially came up short on signatures in July but, per state law, earned an extra month to pursue its goal. The Supreme Court ultimately ordered the secretary of state to verify the remaining signatures.

The amendment itself sought to improve patient access by allowing more medical professionals to certify people to the program and allowing medical cannabis ID certifications to be conducted via telemedicine. Additionally, the amendment would have legalized home grows for patients, allowed for out-of-state patient IDs, increased the patient registration period from one year to three years, and removed patient program application fees.