cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot Act in Works for November Ballot Medical Pot Act in Works for November Ballot Posted by CN Staff on June 06, 2004 at 06:45:06 PT By Michael R. Wickline Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana is confident that it will gather enough signatures of registered voters to qualify its proposed initiated act for the Nov. 2 general election ballot, a spokesman for the group said Friday. Chloe Crater of Little Rock declined to disclose how many people have signed the group's petition for the proposal. The alliance needs to turn in the petition with at least 64,456 Arkansas registered voter signatures on it by July 2. It must be turned in to the secretary of state's office. Attorney General Mike Beebe's March 12 approval of the popular name of "The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act" and its ballot title allowed the alliance to start collecting signatures. The group hired The Southwest Group of Las Vegas to collect signatures, Crater said. "We are on target to have the amount that we need," she said in an interview. "There is a lot of support in this state for this issue. Arkansans are compassionate to patients suffering from chronic pain and chronic illnesses." Larry Page of Roland, executive director of the Arkansas Committee for Ethics Policy, responded that Arkansans "are compassionate and kind, but I don't think Arkansans are convinced this is the best way to treat these maladies." So far the alliance has the largest treasury of any of the committees formed to promote or defeat ballot measures in Arkansas. Through April, it reported contributions of $337,295 and expenses of $216,755. The Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Fayetteville contributed $175, 200 to the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Billionaire Peter B. Lewis of Cleveland gave $161,000, according to financial disclosure reports. The Southwest Group has been paid $186, 000 by the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana for canvassing and consulting. Denele Campbell of West Fork, executive director of the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy, said the "lion's share" of the 5-year-old nonprofit group's $175,200 contribution to the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana came from Lewis. "We were proud to have built such a strong organization in Arkansas over the past five years that Mr. Lewis would have the confidence to make this kind of investment in us," said Campbell, who also is treasurer for the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Lewis, chairman of the board for The Progressive Corp., an insurance company, has made financial contributions to groups promoting similar ballot measures in several other states. Billionaire financier George Soros of New York and Lewis are helping finance -- http://www.moveon.org -- advertising campaign aimed at defeating President Bush. A spokesman for The Progressive Corp. said he didn't have a telephone number to reach Lewis on Friday. Non drug policy portion of article removed.Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)Author: Michael R. WicklinePublished: Saturday, June 5, 2004Copyright: 2004 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.Contact: voices ardemgaz.comWebsite: http://www.ardemgaz.com/Related Articles & Web Site:ARDPArkhttp://www.ardpark.org/Group Awaits Pot Opinion http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17632.shtmlArkansas Medical Marijuana Bill Rejected http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15704.shtmlGroup Works To Legalize Medicinal Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14303.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by wecre8it on June 06, 2004 at 09:16:21 PT IS THERE JUSTICE, OR IS IT JUST US? Given that there are sufficient signatures to get this on the ballot for the November 4th vote, this oughta be a cinch to pass. According to polling as stated by the Arkansas Alliance, the majority of folks in Arkansas approve MMJ.If you've ever been convicted of a felony, live in Arkansas, and desire to participate as caregiver, because you are a loving, compassionate, caring human- TOO BAD.It could be said that the initiative is of good intent, by excluding 'bad' people from participating. This would be true if every person convicted of a felony was 'rightly' convicted of a crime. What if your a young adult, of college age who is busted with a couple of OZ's? Does that make you a person of criminal nature? What if your now a 40 something adult who qualifies as a medical recipiant and choose to be your own caregiver? Even if you become an expert at cultivating your own medicine, should you be excluding for help another SOUL?A better way would be to allow anyone convicted of a felon to have an appeals process whereby cases are evalutated on individual basis.ANYTHING LESS WOULD MAKE YOU A HUMAN OF SELECTIVE COMPASSION, PASSING JUDGEMENT ON ANOTHER HUMAN (SPIRIT-BEING), REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCE.This is the same kind of ignorant thinking that has brought the planet to it's current STATE OF BEING, one where the CONSENSUS REALITY still believes that everyone is separate from everything else, which is not the case.THERE IS NO THOUGHT OR BEING WHO IS SEPARATE FROM EVERYTHING OR ANYONE ELSE. ALL OF US ARE MADE FROM THE SAME EXACT DIVINE STUFF OF SPIRIT.THERE IS ONLY ONE OF US.orWE ARE ALL ONE.This is of course, is the individuated, differientiated, divine perspective of a single human stating a perspective on behalf of ALL-THAT-IS/SPIRIT. Believe it or not [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 06, 2004 at 08:26:16 PT Great news The evil, liberal, out-of-state billionaires are coming in to OUR backyard to....to....to.... allow sick people to take medicine? The usual alarmist spin just doesn't cut it with medical MJ, that's why every referendum state in the US should be done w/ Med MJ referendums ASAP. I'm just not a big fan of the Nevada project at this time, it's unbelievably expensive. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment