This November, Arkansas may become the 20th state to legalize cannabis for adult use and the first among its six adjacent states.
That’s because, according to ABC station KATV, ballot initiative group Responsible Growth Arkansas filed more than 190,000 signatures on July 8 to the secretary of state’s office for its petition requesting that voters be given the opportunity to decide whether to completely legalize the plant.
According to BallotPedia.org, that is more than twice the 89,151 valid signatures required, or 10% of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election.
The initiative was submitted and Responsible Growth Arkansas was created to support it by former Arkansas state representative Eddie Armstrong III, a Democrat who served as minority leader during his time in the statehouse from 2013 to 2019. Armstrong has been the CEO and chairman of Cannabis Capital Group, a medical cannabis consulting, investing, and advisory company, based in Chicago, for the last four years.
The “Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment,” a ballot initiative, aims to legalize the possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for personal use by individuals 21 and older as well as the cultivation and sale of the drug by regulated commercial establishments.
Agricultural Licenses
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Division would be in charge of managing and supervising cultivation facilities for two different licensing types: Existing medical operators would only be eligible for Tier 1 licenses, while new market entrants would only be permitted to produce a maximum of 250 mature cannabis plants at a time in Tier 2 adult-use cultivation facilities.
According to the submitted initiative, by March 7, 2023, ABC officials would be in charge of giving tier one adult-use cultivation licenses—which don’t have the 250-plant limit—to current operators under the state’s medicinal program.
Then, by November 8, 2023, ABC would grant 12 lottery-selected licenses for Tier 2 cultivation facilities. Under the constitutional amendment, only 12 tier two permits could be granted.
A public or private school, church, childcare center, or facility for people with developmental disabilities that existed prior to the licensing must be at least 3,000 feet away from any tier one and tier two adult-use cultivation facilities that are licensed under the amendment.
Licensed dispensaries
By March 7, 2023, ABC officials would have to grant adult-use dispensary licenses to already-existing medical cannabis merchants. They would also have to grant those merchants a second dispensary license that would allow them to open an adult-use-only location up to five miles from their current medical dispensaries.
The following day, legally permitted commercial enterprises could start conducting wholesale and retail sales of cannabis for adult consumption.
Then, by July 5, 2023, ABC would provide 40 extra adult-use dispensary licenses that were chosen at random. Within 5 miles of current medical retailers, those with new licenses were not permitted to open a retail space. But because of the amendment, which places a cap of 120 dispensaries, more licenses might be granted.
No person or organization would be permitted to own a stake in more than 18 adult-use dispensaries in the state.
A public or private school, church, childcare center, or facility for people with developmental disabilities that existed before the cannabis license must all be at least 1,500 feet away from any adult-use businesses.
Control, fees, and local option
The expanded program would be subject to additional oversight by an ABC board, which would be in charge of establishing regulations for everything from security and inventory requirements to packaging and labeling standards, license renewals and transfers, recordkeeping, fines and appeals processes, and inspections.
The constitutional amendment would impose a 10 percent supplemental sales tax on adult-use retail sales in addition to the state and local sales taxes already imposed on tangible personal property. This is how the money obtained from the additional tax would be set aside:
All full-time law enforcement personnel who are in good standing and have their certification from the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training funded at a rate of fifteen percent each year.
Ten percent must go toward supporting the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ operations.
The Arkansas Drug Court Act-authorized drug court programs must get 5% of the proceeds.
The state’s general fund would get the remaining seventy percent of the extra tax revenue.
Local governments may also vote to ban adult-use cannabis retail sales, but political subdivisions are not allowed to make new zoning regulations or modify those that already exist in order to prevent businesses from opening up shop in areas that aren’t designated for residential use only as of the amendment’s passage date.
Missing Amendments
Home cultivation or record expungement are not covered by the constitutional amendment.
The filed ballot measure makes no reference to expungement, social equality, restorative justice, or those who were disproportionately affected by prohibition—all topics that have recently come to the forefront of other legalization campaigns.
Possession of less than 4 ounces of cannabis is now penalized in Arkansas by up to a year in jail and a maximum $2,500 fine for a first conviction. According to NORML, a subsequent offense of that quantity is a felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
According to the Cannabis Policy Project, there were around 545,600 cannabis arrests in the U.S. in 2019; more than 90% of these were for possession.
