The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled on Monday that votes for a ballot measure regarding the expansion of medical marijuana will not be counted due to concerns that the ballot measure did not accurately explain what the constitutional amendment would have entailed.
According to The Associated Press, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled 4-3 against the “Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024” on Monday. While the ballot measure cannot be removed due to the start of early voting on Monday, the state supreme court ordered election officials to avoid counting any votes cast for the initiative.
The Associated Press reported that the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 would have changed the state’s constitution to expand the definition of medical professionals who can legally approve patients for the medical use of marijuana, made medical marijuana cards valid for three years, and added conditions for patients to qualify to use medical marijuana.
According to The Associated Press, the Arkansas Supreme Court determined that the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 did not fully explain to voters that the constitutional amendment would have prevented the state legislature from making changes to the 2016 constitutional amendment that legalized the use of medical marijuana in Arkansas. The state supreme court also noted that the ballot measure initiative did not inform voters that the constitutional amendment would have legalized up to one ounce of marijuana possession for any purpose if the drug was legalized nationally.
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In the court’s majority opinion, Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Shawn Womack wrote, “This decision doomed the proposed ballot title, and it is plainly misleading.”
The Associated Press reported that court filings showed the medical marijuana ballot initiative’s organizers argued that the ballot measure cited the number of provisions that would be repealed if the amendment passed. The organizers also argued that previous court rulings indicated that ballot measures did not need to include a summary of the current law that would be changed.
In a dissent to Monday’s ruling, Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Cody Hiland suggested that the court was ignoring precedent by ruling against the inclusion of the initiative on the state’s ballot. “Long ago, this court established definitive standards for evaluating the sufficiency of popular names and ballot titles,” Hiland stated. “This court has not deviated from those standards until today.”
