BAD FOR BUSINESS Marijuana remains illegal in
America in all cases, but the fed- eral government is taking a hands-off approach in states that have legalized it in some form. The two proposals would make the use of medical mari- juana legal in Arkansas with a doctor’s certification, but they differ in several ways. The amendment would change the Constitution to allow for-profit dis- pensaries to provide marijuana to quali- fying patients. The act, on the other hand, would have only the force of law, and the dispensaries would be non-profits. Only the act would allow patients living at least 20 miles from a dispen- sary to grow their own plants. Both list a variety of ailments that would qualify for treat- ment. The act’s list is longer, but both include “intractable pain.” For opponents, that’s a concern because pain can be defined broadly. The amendment will
appear as Issue 6 and the act as Issue 7 on the ballot. If both are approved, the one that wins the most votes would be enacted. The State Chamber is
strongly opposed to the mea- sure. Also appearing with Rice at the press conference, there were Gov. Asa Hutchinson; Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin; Joe Carter, CEO of Snyder Environmental, an environmental remediation company; Grady Harvell, president and chief operating officer of AFCO Steel; and Doug Wasson, presi- dent and CEO of Kinco Construction. All said the proposed initiatives
would impact safety in their industries. The two measures include anti-discrim- ination clauses that the business leaders said would make it more difficult to operate drug-free workplaces. Harvell, whose employees work with heavy steel, said AFCO has three plants: in Little Rock, Van Buren and Greeley, Colo., a state that has legalized both medical and recreational marijuana. He said the
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company’s Colorado location has had a 300 percent increase in terminations due to employees failing random drug tests the last three years. Meanwhile, his Arkansas locations have seen a 57% reduction in terminations for the same reason. Hutchinson said the state has a 3.9
percent unemployment rate, which does not take into account those who have left the workforce. Increasing the work- er pool will be harder if more potential workers fail drug tests, he said. Griffin said today’s good jobs require highly
act qualified regarding the number of valid signatures it collected. The Court will use that report as one of its tools for making its decision. Meanwhile, the amendment also faced a court challenge saying its ballot title is misleading. However both measures survived
the legal challenges, so it will be up to the voters to decide. In 2012, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act nar- rowly was defeated, 51-49 percent. The primary sponsors of the initiative have split and are offering this year’s dueling proposals.
In a poll by Talk
Business & Politics and Hendrix College of 831 likely voters conducted Sept. 15-17 and published Sept. 25, the amendment was doing better than the act. Voters, who were given a brief description of both measures during the survey, supported the amendment, 49-43 percent, while they opposed the act, 36-53 per- cent.
Hutchinson said in the
press conference that those results are encouraging because they showed that voters are paying attention and making judgments. He said he had expected the measures would have more
trained, focused, safe employees. With employers across the country struggling to find employees who can pass a drug test, the state has a competitive edge unless it legalizes the drug, he said. Both measures have been the sub-
ject of lawsuits in the Arkansas Supreme Court – two in the case of the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, with one of those suits funded at least in part by the sponsor of the amendment. As of late September, the momentum seemed to be on the side of keeping the measures on the ballot. The Court has already ruled in favor of the act in a suit claim- ing the ballot title is misleading. In another suit, a special master appointed by the Court reported Sept. 27 that the
support. Hutchinson, who headed the Drug
Enforcement Administration under President George W. Bush, is attacking the proposals on both economic and medical fronts. His surgeon general, Dr. Greg Bledsoe, makes the case that mari- juana as a plant is not medicine and is more harmful than in the past because today’s version has higher concentra- tions of the mind-altering component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Bledsoe is open to using marijuana in some ill- nesses. However, it needs to be produced using established processes includ- ing approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
Issue 5 2016 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT
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