The Arkansas Board of Corrections declared its opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana on Friday, a day after the state Supreme Court ruled votes will be counted on the proposed ballot measure in the Nov. 8 general election.
The Corrections Board unanimously approved a motion by Chairman Benny Magness to state that the board is against changing the Arkansas Constitution to legalize recreational marijuana.
“It’s a mistake to put into the constitution, but the first mistake is doing it at all,” Magness said near the end of the board’s monthly meeting.
Magness said he also wants to address “the myth” that state prisons were filled with low-level marijuana violations.
“I would assume it’s not over 10 of the 14,000 inmates,” he said. “And out of those 10 a majority are probably because of revocation or because of large quantities.”
Board member John Felts said most of the inmates who are in the prison system say they were under the influence of drugs when they committed their crime.
“Some obviously are not on marijuana, but methamphetamine or cocaine, but when we start legalizing what I believe is an entry type drug that leads to other drugs and addictions, then I just feel like it’s essential for the board to be public about it,” he said. “This is a horrible mistake. I know those who have opposite opinions about it, but every person I talked to who have had to deal meth or cocaine, many of them say they hated the day they…
