Flyers attempting to tie a proposed Arkansas medical marijuana amendment to Chinese business interests are “totally misleading,” says the director of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association.
One flyer, posted to social media, urges voters to “Reject China’s pot fields in Arkansas.” Another, posted on Reddit, carries the image of a Chinese food take-out container emblazoned with a marijuana leaf and overflowing with cash. “Communist China, ready to cash in on Arkansas pot,” the flyer says.
Bill Paschall, executive director of the marijuana association, called the anti-amendment flyers a distraction and said they amounted to a “totally ludicrous and ridiculous argument.”
It was not immediately clear who sent the flyers, and Paschall said he didn’t know the group that sent them.
The flyers attempt link the marijuana amendment with China “buying up hundreds of acres of land for their communist business agenda.” One referenced Gov. Sarah Sanders’ 2023 action to force a company in Craighead County to sell 160 acres of land because the company is owned by a Chinese state-owned business. Sanders and other governors have stoked fears about Chinese ownership of American land, although reports have thrown cold water on the seriousness of the concerns.
Chinese organized crime has been found to be involved in illegal marijuana operations in Oklahoma, Maine and California, but those enterprises involved illegal cannabis cultivation outside the scope of those states’ regulated marijuana programs.
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024, which industry leaders and advocates are trying to put on the November ballot, would not change the ownership requirements for the state’s medical marijuana businesses. Arkansans must account for at least 60% of the ownership of dispensaries and cultivators, according to the constitutional amendment Arkansas voters approved to legalize medical marijuana in 2016. Medical marijuana processors, which don’t grow plants but form them into other products, do not have a residency requirement, according to Medical Marijuana Commission spokesman Scott Hardin.
The proposed amendment that supporters hope to place on the November 2024 ballot would expand the state medical marijuana program to increase the types of medical professionals who can certify patients for cards. The measure would also extend the life of the cards from one year to three years, eliminate the $50 charge for the cards, allow medical marijuana cardholders to grow some plants of their own and allow for pre-rolled joints among other things.
Constitutional amendments need at least 90,704 verified signatures by Friday to make the November ballot. Paschall said he is confident his group would meet that target.
Arkansans for Patient Access, the committee pushing the amendment, has raised $1.2 million to support the measure. Stronger Arkansas, a group formed to oppose the marijuana amendment and other ballot measures, has raised $375,000. The Arkansas Family Council reported raising $102,000 and $120,000 on a pair of finance reports for its committees dedicated to defeating the marijuana amendment and others.
Stronger Arkansas is chaired by Chris Caldwell, who managed Sanders’ 2022 gubernatorial campaign and has been named the manager of her 2026 election bid.