NORML Seeking to Put Cannabis Legalization on Arkansas Ballots in 2022

A second group has filed a ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in Arkansas, KNWA/KFTA reports. The campaign by the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is a proposed constitutional amendment which, if approved, would legalize cannabis use for those over 21-years-old, allow home cultivation of six mature and six immature plants, and allow one cultivation facility per 300,000 residents.

Another group, Arkansas True Grass, already has a legalization campaign underway — also a constitutional amendment — and both groups would need to collect 89,151 verified signatures by July 8 to put the issue on November 2022 ballots.

The NORML-backed Arkansas Adult Use and Expungement Marijuana Amendment would also expunge criminal convictions for the possession, cultivation, manufacture, distribution, or sale of fewer than 16 ounces of cannabis, six or fewer plants, or cannabis-related paraphernalia.

Melissa Fults, treasurer for the Arkansas NORML chapter, said the criminal reforms included in the proposal will give those offenders “their life back” and “let them be able to get a decent job, let them be able to better serve their state, or town, or their own families.”

The Arkansas True Grass proposal — the Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2022 — would also expunge convictions for some cannabis offenses. Under the amendment, anyone incarcerated or serving parole or probation for violations of the state’s cannabis law would be released from state custody.