LITTLE ROCK (KTHV) – A group that came very close to getting its medical marijuana measure passed four years ago says they’re confident 2016 will be the year they get it done.
According to a new CBS News poll released on Wednesday, 87 percent of Americans say doctors should be allowed to prescribe marijuana for medical use. That has advocates on both sides of the issue gearing up for a big showdown in Arkansas this November.
“It’s frustrating that some people think marijuana is medicine,” said Family Council President Jerry Cox, adding that he’s not worried about the trend of more and more states moving toward various degrees of marijuana legalization across the country.
“People can see now what the future would look like in Arkansas if we start down this road, and it’s my hope that people will look at the mistakes made in other states and that we won’t make the same mistake here in Arkansas,” said Cox. “I think, in some of these states, people just rolled over and said, ‘hey, it’s inevitable, let’s just go with it’. I think the opposition that they will encounter here in Arkansas may be unprecedented when it’s all said and done.”
According to the CBS News Poll, Americans’ attitudes toward marijuana are more favorable than ever before with more than half of the country now supporting fully-legal marijuana use.
“This is a democracy and there are way over 50 percent of the people in the state of Arkansas that support medical marijuana now,” said attorney David Couch, author of the proposed Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment.
“People in the state of Arkansas, while they’re compassionate, they want it to be a little bit strict and regulated so if you’re going to say marijuana is a medicine, then they want you to treat marijuana like a medicine,” added Couch. “People get it, I mean if you treat it as medicine and treat it as compassionate, Arkansas is not really a red state or a blue state, it’s a populous state and we do the right thing and we’ll vote for this, it will pass.”
Couch says his group has only been collecting signatures for about ten days, but already has 10,000. He has to get close to 85,000 by July 8th to get on the November ballot and says his petition will be easy to recognize: it will be the one printed on green paper.
