On Friday, Arkansas officials confirmed that the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment received at least 91,000 verified signatures.
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Arkansas officials have confirmed that at least 91,000 signatures have been verified for the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024, clearing a key hurdle for the proposal. This update comes after the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered Secretary of State John Thurston to verify additional signatures that were submitted during the "cure period."
Leslie Bellamy, the Director of Elections at the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, confirmed the news, stating, "I can confirm that no less than 91,000 signatures were verified pursuant to the counting as ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court." This is significant because the verified signatures now exceed the required 90,704, meaning the amendment can move forward.
Originally, Thurston had announced that the proposal fell short of the required number of signatures, but the Supreme Court’s order reversed that. The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 aims to broaden access to medical marijuana for qualified patients, allowing certain medical professionals to certify patients and expanding the list of conditions that qualify for treatment.
The situation escalated quickly when, just a day after Thurston initially rejected the proposal, Arkansans for Patient Access (APA)—the group sponsoring the amendment—filed a lawsuit. APA argued that Thurston mishandled the signatures and wrongfully disqualified a large portion of them. They challenged his decision not to count approximately 28,413 signatures, asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to certify the amendment for the ballot before early voting begins on October 21.
APA had originally submitted over 150,000 signatures in support of the proposed amendment, well above the 90,704 required. However, Thurston had only validated 10,521 of the signatures from the cure period, bringing the total to 88,040—just below the threshold. This led to the lawsuit, with APA claiming that some signatures were wrongfully excluded because the group’s paid canvassers hadn’t been registered before collecting them.
Now, with the verification process complete and the number of valid signatures confirmed, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 looks set to appear on the ballot, paving the way for expanded medical marijuana access in the state.
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