Arkansas may surprisingly be the first state in the South to legalize marijuana. Although this seems ridiculous and to some even unlikely, cannabis proponents learned this week that their bill looking to legalize marijuana in the state now may be plausible before voters get their vote in November. This week, after turning down a proposed ballot initiative almost ten times, the Arkansas Attorney General, Leslie Rutledge, finally signed the initiative that would allow “cultivation, production, distribution, sale, possession, and use of the cannabis plant and cannabis-related products” recreationally as well as medically.

The Arkansas Cannabis Amendment (ACA), which was proposed by Summit resident Mary Berry, may be one of the most thorough cannabis ballot measures to ever come about over the last twenty years in the United States. That is because instead of isolating a certain portion of cannabis smokers, the initiative looks just to end the state’s prohibition by allowing all adults aged twenty-one or older to use cannabis where they believe it would suit them best.

“It’s going to be treated very similar to alcohol,” Don Lane of Arkansas True Grass said in an interview. “The medicinal people will get what they need, the people who like to sit down and have a beer on the weekends can sit down and have some cannabis on the weekends.”

The proposed ballot initiative indicates that cannabis would be sold throughout Arkansas in retail outlets. Each transaction on recreational cannabis would come with a five percent tax along with the state’s typical 6.5 percent sales tax. The sale of cannabis to patients with a written recommendation from a licensed specialist would not be taxed. The more interesting part about the Arkansas Cannabis Amendment is how devoted it is to home cultivation. Although it seems ridiculous, Arkansas may be the pioneer for legal marijuana in the south.

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