A member of NORML’s National Legal Committee has put in a lawsuit to remove a medical cannabis measure from Arkansas’s November ballot. This seems entirely confusing; why would a member representing a group that supports marijuana legalization try to stop a cannabis ballot? That’s what many were wondering when Kara Benca, a lifetime member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws’s attorneys panel, put in her lawsuit to invalidate signatures for the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act (AMCA).
The ballot is one of two different medical marijuana measures that have made it onto the November ballot. It, unlike the other Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment (AMMA), would permit confirmed patients to develop therapeutic cannabis at home. It additionally takes into consideration a more extensive rundown of medicinal conditions that qualify patients for lawful access to weed. David Couch, the Little Rock lawyer behind the more prohibitive AMMA, admitted in an interview that he “provided information” to bolster Benca’s suit, however, didn’t react specifically to questions about whether he just agreed to demands for help or was included in starting the case from the earliest starting point.
“We are a small town,” he added. “I’ve worked with them and knew them. I don’t think anyone contacted anyone.”
Paul Armentano, deputy director for NORML, stated that his organization has not “picked a side among these dueling initiatives.” When questions on whether or not Benca should be able to keep her position with the organization’s Legal Committee after pulling this stunt, Armentano stated that he was not at all aware of the attorney, who is one of more than six-hundred that paid to be listed on the site.
“I have raised this as a matter of concern to other senior staff, as well as those on the ground in Arkansas, and I would imagine the matter will be formally discussed ASAP sometime next week,” he added.
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