A second group has filed an adult-use cannabis ballot initiative in Arkansas, according to a KATV report.
Arkansans for Cannabis Reform filed an amendment Nov. 4 to put adult-use legalization on the state’s 2022 ballot, the news outlet reported.
The proposal would allow adults 21 and older to possess and consume cannabis, as well as cultivate up to six cannabis seedlings and six mature plants at home, according to KATV.
The measure also includes criminal justice provisions that would allow those convicted of low-level cannabis-related offenses to petition the courts for release from incarceration and expungement of their records, KATV reported.
The proposal would allow the Arkansas Legislature to levy a tax on adult-use cannabis sales, according to the news outlet, and the measure allocates the tax revenue to support specific programs in the state. Fifty percent of the revenue would fund public pre-K and after-school programs, 40% would support operations at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) cancer institute and research center, and 10% would go to the state’s general fund.
Arkansans for Cannabis Reform gathered signatures last year to qualify its adult-use legalization initiative for the state’s 2020 ballot, but the group ultimately fell short of their signature goal during the COVID-19 pandemic and refocused its efforts on the 2022 election.
Another campaign, Arkansas True Grass, is also reviving its efforts this year to place its own proposed constitutional amendment to legalize adult-use cannabis on the 2022 ballot.
The measure proposed by Arkansas True Grass would charge the Arkansas Agriculture Department with regulating the legal adult-use marketplace, expunge all prior cannabis-related convictions in the state and allow residents to grow up to 12 cannabis plants at home for personal use.
Arkansans for Cannabis Reform and Arkansas True Grass must gather 89,101 signatures by June 2022 to qualify their initiatives for the ballot, KATV reported.