The group behind a constitutional amendment that would expand the state medical marijuana program reported raising nearly $191,000 last month, bringing their total haul for the campaign to $1.17 million.
Arkansans for Patient Access, a coalition of industry leaders and patient advocates, reported donations of $190,876 in May. The group reported a balance of $66,809, according to the its monthly report to the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
Capital City Medical LLC, the business name of the Good Day Farm Little Rock dispensary, provided the largest donation of the month at $26,416. The donation brings the dispensary’s total contributions to $58,916.
Arkansans for Patient Access received 19 donations from the medical cannabis industry and one donation of $1,000 from CGM Enterprises of Jonesboro, which listed “ATM Machines” in the report’s employer/occupation category.
The second-largest contributions of the month were $20,000 from 420 Dispensary of Russellville and $20,000 from Shansky F. Song, the name of the limited liability company that owns the ReLeaf Center Dispensary and Farm in Bentonville.
Valentine Holdings donated $15,777 last month, bringing its total to $76,654, the largest cumulative donation to the group. Valentine Holdings is the limited liability company that owns Purspirit Cannabis Co. dispensary in Fayetteville.
Arkansans for Patient Access spent $517,381 last month and has spent $1.1 million total. The largest expenditures last month were four payments to National Ballot Access totaling $490,000 for collecting signatures.
The group needs 90,704 verified signatures by July 5 to put the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 to a vote of the people in November.
The measure would do the following:
- Allow pharmacists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to certify patients for the program in addition to medical doctors.
- Allow health care professionals to certify patients based on any “debilitating” condition, not just the 18 qualifying conditions in the 2016 amendment
- Eliminate the $50 fee the state charges patients to obtain or renew a patient card
- Extend the life of patient cards from one year to three years
- Allow patients to grow up to seven mature plants and seven immature plants and allow the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division to create regulations
- Prevent any constitutional amendment from being amended or repealed unless by the people
- Allow the sale of pre-rolled marijuana by eliminating the state prohibition on dispensaries’ sale of paraphernalia requiring combustion