Arkansas marijuana advocate Melissa Fults dropped her efforts to put a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana on the ballot this year. Instead, she said she will devote her time to defeating a well-financed amendment supported by the state’s marijuana cultivators.
Fults said she ended her push for the Arkansas Marijuana Amendment of 2022 after it became apparent she wasn’t going to get the required 89,151 verified signatures by the July 8 deadline. Fults said she’s already looking ahead to 2024, when she plans to introduce another amendment to free up access to cannabis in Arkansas.
This leaves two cannabis-related amendments still alive for the 2022 ballot. Arkansas True Grass filed a constitutional amendment called the Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Amendment of 2022. The effort appears to lack much funding or visibility.
Responsible Growth Arkansas, however, is running a well-funded, industry-backed campaign to pass the Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment. Led by former state legislator Eddie Armstrong, Responsible Growth Arkansas has raked in $1.82 million in donations as of March 31, according to records with the Arkansas Ethics Commission. Five of the state’s eight cultivators pitched in $350,000 each for a total of $1.75 million.
Fults said she had hoped some members of Arkansas’s marijuana industry would support her 2022 initiative financially, but that the hefty influence and resources of the Responsible Growth Arkansas team…
