Prosecutor’s office against marijuana amendments

Thirteenth Judicial District Prosecutor David Butler said Wednesday that his office opposes both Amendment 6 and Amendment 7, each dealing with legalizing medical marijuana in Arkansas.

“The Police Chiefs Association, Sheriffs Association, the 27 prosecuting attorneys - all agree it’s a bad deal,” he said.

On Oct. 19, the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police (AACP) announced they were joining with the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association (APAA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy Associates-Arkansas Chapter (FBINAA), and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in opposing Issues 6 and 7.

“We believe the proposals here are nothing more than very thinly disguised attempts to legalize marijuana under the cloak of medicine,” the AACP statement read.

On Oct. 26, it was announced that 84 state legislators came out in opposition to both proposals, including Rep. Lane Jean (R) and Sen. Bruce Maloch (D), both of Magnolia.

Issue 6 is proposing to make the medical use of marijuana legal under state law, but acknowledging that marijuana use, possession, and distribution for any purpose remain illegal under federal law. It would identify medical conditions that qualify a person for using medical marijuana.

Issue 7 is proposing to make the medical use of cannabis, commonly called marijuana, legal under Arkansas state law. It would establish a system for growing, acquiring, and distributing marijuana for medical purposes.

Butler recalled a July 2013 jury trial of a man who came to Magnolia from Colorado, and was later convicted of armed robbery at the Walgreen’s Pharmacy in Magnolia. John Harris testified in his trial that he dispensed medical marijuana in Colorado.

“The way they did it in Colorado you were allowed to dispense medical marijuana to a certain number of people. He could grow it, buy it, whatever, and then dispense. He had a card that allowed him to do that. Except he didn’t like marijuana as much as he liked pills.” Butler said that Harris admitted he was trading oxycontin for medical marijuana. “He admitted he was using the medical marijuna card which he had and dispensing marijuana to certain people, and then trading that for pills.”

“That was our first adventure with the medical marijuana issue.”

Butler said a Benton police chief spearheaded the effort opposing the amendments. “All you have got to do is have a doctor’s note of sorts and anybody can have it and then the problems will be - a guy that’s driving a forklift, guys driving 18-wheelers, all those guys can do it and it’s OK.”

“What will happen, I’m assuming, law enforfcement is not going to be able to arrest you if you have a usuable amount of marijuana on you if you have the doctor’s note. But your employer can have a policy that says ‘we’re not going to condone that.’ What will happen is, people are going to use it as far as they can. It’s just going to mean it will be an increased danger to society because more and more people will be using marijuana. You could be in possession of drugs at your workplace.”

“This is from a law enforcement standpoint - the prosecutor’s office, police department, sheriff’s office - if it was simply you had a real doctor who really was prescribing medical marijuana for a real cancer patient, nobody has a problem. I agree with that, but that’s not what happens,” he said. “It’s the Pandora’s box.”

“There will be a whole cast of people that will be eligible for it who won’t even use it. They will end up selling,” Butler said. “I know that in my mind.”

“It is so complicated what they’re trying to do, but the abuse will be incredible,” he added.

“I can say as a prosecuting attorney, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association has met, we’ve had presentations about the pros and cons and we think if you look at the pros and cons - if an amendment was passed to allow a real doctor to dispense real prescriptions for people who really had a medical problem - that would probably be OK. But the way this deal is drafted the abuse will be incredible and it will lead to the increased use of marijuana. We can’t even begin to figure out where the problems will be with this thing. This is not a true medical marijuana bill.”

Another issue, Butler noted, is this gives youth the idea that there’s nothing wrong with marijuana use.

“What comes out on TV and what the youth of America see, is they see the legalizations of other states and so they then say ‘it’s just marijuana. It’s no big deal.’ What that has led to is widespread use of K-2, which is synthetic marijuana. The longterm effects of using K-2 are unknown. It can have LSD-type effects,” he said. “The mindset is ‘it’s just marijuana.’ It’s going to move more and more people to use K-2. Id’s rather have them use cocaine or meth than I would K-2.”

“Anything that moves in the direction that this is acceptable in society, we’re against it.”

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