An Arkansas group is already gathering signatures to place a medical marijuana initiative on the November 2012 ballot, and now the effort is sparking a critical reaction from a local Christian conservative “traditional family values” organization. But medical marijuana backers say they have God on their side, too.
[image:1 align:left caption:true]Arkansans for Compassionate Care won approval in April to circulate petitions for the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act. It needs to gather 62,507 valid voter signatures by next July to appear on the November 2012 ballot. The group said it plans to gather double the required number to provide a large cushion in case large numbers of signatures are found to be invalid.
The initiative would allow patients with serious illnesses like cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and PTSD whose doctors recommend medical marijuana to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana. Patients would obtain marijuana from one of up to 30 state-regulated dispensaries or, if they don’t live near a dispensary, they or a designated caregiver could grow their own. Patients more than five miles from a dispensary could grow up to six plants.
“I’ve talked to dozens and dozens of patients across the state,” the group’s Ryan Denham told Fox 16 TV NewsMonday night. “People that suffer from debilitating medical conditions things like multiple sclerosis, cancer, hepatitis c, and the patients are really kind of just fed up with the fact that they have to break the law to get the medicine their doctor recommends,” he said.
Read complete article here:
http://cannabis.hawaiinewsdaily.com/2011/08/24/arkansas-medical-marijuana-push-sparks-reaction/
[image:1 align:left caption:true]Arkansans for Compassionate Care won approval in April to circulate petitions for the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act. It needs to gather 62,507 valid voter signatures by next July to appear on the November 2012 ballot. The group said it plans to gather double the required number to provide a large cushion in case large numbers of signatures are found to be invalid.
The initiative would allow patients with serious illnesses like cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and PTSD whose doctors recommend medical marijuana to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana. Patients would obtain marijuana from one of up to 30 state-regulated dispensaries or, if they don’t live near a dispensary, they or a designated caregiver could grow their own. Patients more than five miles from a dispensary could grow up to six plants.
“I’ve talked to dozens and dozens of patients across the state,” the group’s Ryan Denham told Fox 16 TV NewsMonday night. “People that suffer from debilitating medical conditions things like multiple sclerosis, cancer, hepatitis c, and the patients are really kind of just fed up with the fact that they have to break the law to get the medicine their doctor recommends,” he said.
Read complete article here:
http://cannabis.hawaiinewsdaily.com/2011/08/24/arkansas-medical-marijuana-push-sparks-reaction/