cannabisnews.com: Group’s Initiative on Medical ‘Pot’ Misses Ballot Group’s Initiative on Medical ‘Pot’ Misses Ballot Posted by CN Staff on September 04, 2004 at 11:17:23 PT By Laura Kellams Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The future looked rosy for Arkansas’ medical marijuana advocates early this year, with a pile of cash and national support that seemed to guarantee their initiative a spot on election ballots. But Friday, the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas found itself short on petition signatures and out of money — for the third election cycle in a row. Secretary of State Charlie Daniels announced that petitions submitted in favor of the proposed Medical Marijuana Act included 52,364 signatures of registered voters. The measure needed 64,456 to qualify for the Nov. 2 ballot. Denele Campbell of West Fork, executive director of the alliance, said months ago she wouldn’t have believed the group would fail again this time. This was the year her group had support from the Washingtonbased Marijuana Policy Project and more than $340,000 in donations. "We felt like this was going to be handled professionally, beyond what we’d been able to do previously, so we were very confident that we were going be on the ballot," she said Friday. The Marijuana Policy Project arranged for a Las Vegas firm, Southwest Group, to be paid $228,500 to gather signatures. But the Nevada outfit turned in fewer than 30,000 valid signatures July 2, the first of two deadlines for the ballot committee, the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana, to turn in petition pages. Marijuana Policy Project has since cut ties with the Las Vegas firm. "We did end up deciding not to continue our relationship with Southwest Group," Bruce Mirken, spokesman for Marijuana Policy Project, said Friday. Not only did the consulting firm come up short in Arkansas, it also failed to file enough signatures on a petition drive on a marijuana initiative in Nevada. In that case, a box of petition pages was misplaced. Mirken wouldn’t say Friday whether Southwest Group’s showing in Arkansas contributed to his organization’s decision. "We looked at the big picture and decided we should go elsewhere," he said. Neither he nor Campbell have been able to explain how the firm ended up with so few signatures. No one answered the telephone at Southwest Group on Friday. After the initial batch of signatures gathered by Southwest Group came up short, the Marijuana Policy Project pulled out of the Arkansas effort. Mirken said the national organization needed to concentrate on more promising marijuana-related initiatives in other states. That left the Arkansas effort without any new money from its main benefactor, Peter B. Lewis of Ohio. The insurance magnate, who helps fund the Marijuana Policy Project, had bankrolled the Arkansas effort. Most of his money went to pay Southwest Group. After the national organization left, the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana continued its effort to gather signatures through Aug. 25, the group’s final deadline for submitting petition pages. The alliance hired Phyllis Thompson of Little Rock as a consultant to organize canvassers. Only about 55 percent of the signatures the alliance eventually turned in — including the batch gathered by Southwest Group — turned out to be valid signatures of registered voters. Campbell said she’s not sure why the validity rate was so low. "We really haven’t had time to go in and look at those petitions to see if we had one or two canvassers doing a poor job, or exactly what the problems were," she said. The alliance’s proposal, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, would have allowed Arkansans with "debilitating medical conditions" to use marijuana on the advice of a physician. The ailing person or a caregiver would grow the plant. Campbell said she was disappointed personally but more so for the patients she believes would benefit from using marijuana, such as those with cancer and glaucoma. "For people with chronic illnesses, this a crushing blow," she said. Cancer patients who’ve spoken at the Legislature and at the alliance’s news conferences have said that marijuana helps slow weight loss during chemotherapy because it decreases their nausea and makes them want to eat. Had the initiative qualified for the ballot, opponents were preparing to campaign against it. An opposition group, Citizens Against Legalized Marijuana, had formed, and its leader, Larry Page, said he would have waged a fight against what would have been Proposed Initiated Act 1. Under the proposed law, the Arkansas Department of Health would have been in charge of determining who was eligible for a registration card to use marijuana. The doctor who monitors the issue for the department has said his office opposes medicinal marijuana because there’s not enough research to show that smoking the drug is safe. Complete Title: Group’s Initiative on Medical ‘Pot’ Misses Ballot ShotSource: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)Author: Laura KellamsPublished: Saturday, September 4, 2004Copyright: 2004 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.Contact: voices ardemgaz.comWebsite: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Related Articles & Web Site:ARDPark Inc.http://www.ardpark.org/ Medical ‘Pot’ Signatures Too Few for Ballot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19436.shtmlSignatures Added To Medical ‘Pot’ Drivehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19399.shtmlMedical Marijuana Petition Filed http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19395.shtmlPetition on ‘Pot’ Falls Short of Names http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19238.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Hope on September 05, 2004 at 06:08:19 PT Denele Campbell Denele Campbell is an utterly amazing woman. I thank God for her.http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=Denele+Campbell [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 04, 2004 at 12:02:45 PT Related Article from Arkansas News Bureau Marijuana Measure Fails in Ballot Attempt Saturday, Sep 4, 2004 By Rob Moritz, Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A proposal that would allow marijuana use for medical purposes will not be on the Nov. 2 ballot because it did not get enough signatures, the secretary of state's office said Friday."I'm disappointed but I'm mostly disappointed for the patients and families who really had their hopes and thoughts up," said Denele Campbell, executive director of the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana. The organization collected more than 94,000 signatures, but just 52,264 were certified as valid. To get a proposed initiated act on the ballot required 64,456 certified signatures.Campbell said the alliance would still push for the legalization of marijuana for medical use, possibly in the form of a bill during the next legislative session that begins in January."We're not giving up on this issue," she said.In July, supporters brought in about 66,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. The secretary of state's office, however, said that just 29,947 of the nearly 49,000 signatures counted were certified. Just over 17,000 were discarded because they had not been notarized.Last week, 30,000 new signatures were submitted, along with the 17,000 that were notarized.Under the proposed initiated act, a doctor would have had to sign off on the drug's use. Eligible patients would be those with debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS or another chronic or debilitating disease that causes severe pain.A proposed constitutional act that would define marriage as between a man and a woman has already been certified for the ballot by the secretary of state's office. That proposal, however, is being challenged in the state Supreme Court.Three legislatively approved proposals are already on the ballot. They are:-Proposed constitutional amendment 1, which would limit House members to six two-year terms and state senators to three four-year terms.-Proposed constitutional amendment 2, which would allow the General Assembly to approve bonds to finance major industrial projects that would employ 500 people or more.-Referred Question 1, which would increase the minimum school district maintenance and operations millage rate from 25 mills to 28 mills for property taxes. That measure was approved by the Legislature during the special session on education this year. Copyright: Arkansas News Bureau, 2003 - 2004 http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/09/04/News/283436.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Hope on September 04, 2004 at 11:26:40 PT My favorite poet... Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.How many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head, Pretending he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment