Arkansans for Compassionate Care turned in a petition with more than 67,000 signatures to have a medical marijuana initiative added to the state’s November 6th general election ballot. Arkansas requires 62,507 verifiable signatures from local citizens to add an initiated act to the ballot.
Arkansas Secretary of State office staff have until August 5th to verify the signatures. If numbers come up short, the petitioners will be granted 30 more days to come up with signatures to cover the shortfall – giving organizers a chance to mount a last-ditch effort to generate enough support.
If it passes, the initiative would allow up to 30 medical marijuana dispensaries to be opened across the state. However, local cities and towns could chose to ban them. Dispensaries would only be allowed to sell to patients with prescriptions for specific health conditions such as chronic pain, glaucoma, Hepatitis C and the terminally ill.
