The Arkansas State Supreme Court has voted to dismiss an upcoming vote on the expansion of the state’s medical cannabis program, just weeks before the vote was due.
This week, the court ruled that votes on the measure would no longer be counted, ruling in favour of anti-cannabis group Protect Arkansas Kids (PAK) which claimed the ballot title was misleading.
Just two weeks before the vote was due to take place, the court said that while it is too late to remove the measure from the ballot, votes will no longer be validated.
Justices agreed that the title didn’t clearly explain the broader implications of the measure, which aimed to expand medical cannabis by allowing more medical professionals to recommend it, extending the validity of medical cannabis cards to three years, and broadening the conditions for which cannabis could be prescribed.
However, the court found the measure failed to inform voters about two significant aspects: it would restrict the legislature from amending the 2016 law that legalized medical cannabis, and it would automatically legalize the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis for any purpose if federal laws changed.
In a 4-3 decision, the justices sided with PAK. Justice Shawn Womack, writing for the majority, stated that the measure was ‘plainly misleading.’ However, Justice Cody Hiland, in his dissent, argued that the ruling ignored longstanding court precedent for how ballot measures should be evaluated.
In the same decision, the court ruled that the Secretary of State’s earlier decision to disqualify some of the signatures required to get the measure on the ballot was wrong. The state had refused to count certain signatures because of technical issues with how the petitions were filed.
The post Arkansas Supreme Court Cancels Upcoming Vote on Medical Cannabis Expansion appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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