Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.

Arkansas Recreational Marijuana Legalization and Marijuana-Related Conviction Expungement Initiative (2022)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Recreational Marijuana Legalization and Marijuana-Related Conviction Expungement Initiative
Flag of Arkansas.png
Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Marijuana
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
Citizens

The Recreational Marijuana Legalization and Marijuana-Related Conviction Expungement Initiative was not on the ballot in Arkansas as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

This measure would have legalized marijuana use for individuals 21 years of age and older and create a process for the expungement of marijuana-related felony and misdemeanor convictions.[1]

Text of measure

Popular name

The popular name for this initiative would have been as follows:[1]

“ Arkansas Adult Use and Expungement Marijuana Amendment[2] ”


Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Background

Recreational marijuana in the United States

See also: History of marijuana ballot measures and laws

As of November 2020, 16 states and the District of Columbia had legalized marijuana for recreational purposes; nine through statewide citizen initiatives, and two through bills approved by state legislatures and signed by governors. Colorado and Washington both opted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. In a subsequent Colorado measure, voters enacted a statewide marijuana taxation system. The three ballot measures that passed in 2014 were Oregon's Measure 91, Alaska's Measure 2, and the District of Columbia's Initiative 71. Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada approved recreational marijuana legalization ballot measures in November 2016. The Vermont State Legislature approved a bill in mid-January 2018 to allow recreational marijuana, and Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed it into law on January 22, 2018. Gov. Scott vetoed a previous bill to legalize marijuana in May 2017. On June 25, 2019, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law legalizing the use and possession of recreational marijuana. Initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana were on the ballot in November 2018 in Michigan and North Dakota. The Michigan initiative was approved, and the North Dakota initiative was defeated. Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota approved legalization through initiatives in 2020. New Jersey approved legalization through a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in 2020.[3][4]

The map below details the status of recreational marijuana legalization in the states as of November 2020. States shaded in green had legalized recreational marijuana usage (the shades of green indicate the years in which ballot measures were adopted; light green indicates measures approved in 2012, medium green indicates measures approved in 2014, medium-dark green indicates measures approved in 2016, and dark green indicates measures approved in 2018 and 2020). The states shaded in dark gray had defeated ballot measures that proposed to legalize recreational marijuana. States in blue had recreational marijuana approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor. The remaining states (those shaded in light gray) had not legalized recreational marijuana.

Recreational marijuana legalization measures, 2012-2020

The following table provides information on the political context of the states that had voted on legalization measures as of 2022.

Click "Show" to expand the table.


Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Arkansas

The state process

In Arkansas, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Proponents must collect signatures equaling at least half of the designated percentage of gubernatorial votes in at least 50 of the state's counties. Signatures remain valid until the date of the next general election following the certification of ballot language. Signature petitions must be submitted four months prior to the election at which the measure is to appear.

The requirements to get initiated constitutional amendments certified for the 2022 ballot:

If the secretary of state certifies that enough signatures were submitted in a petition, the initiative is put on the ballot. If a petition fails to meet the signature requirement, but the petition has at least 75 percent of the valid signatures needed, petitioners have 30 days to collect additional signatures or demonstrate that rejected signatures are valid.

Details about this initiative

  • Melissa Fults of Arkansans for Marijuana Reform filed the initiative.[5]
  • Fults withdrew the measure and said she would file a new version of it targeting the 2024 ballot instead.[6]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arkansans for Marijuana Reform, "Arkansas Adult Use and Expungement Marijuana Amendment," accessed January 31, 2022
  2. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  3. ↑ The Hill, "Vermont governor vetoes marijuana legalization," May 24, 2017
  4. ↑ Associated Press, "Illinois becomes 11th state to allow recreational marijuana," June 25, 2019
  5. ↑ Marijuana Moment, "Arkansas Activists File New Marijuana Legalization Initiative For 2022 Ballot," accessed January 31, 2022
  6. ↑ University of Arkansas Public Policy Center, "Arkansas Ballot Issue Newsletter Archives," accessed April 28, 2022
v • e
2022 ballot measures
I&R States
 • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Florida • Idaho • Illinois • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Dakota • Ohio • Oregon • South Dakota • Utah • Washington • Wyoming
Non I&R States
 • Alabama • Connecticut • Georgia • Hawaii • Iowa • Kentucky • Kansas • Louisiana • New Hampshire • New York • Rhode Island • South Carolina • Tennessee • Texas • Vermont • West Virginia
Political topics
Abortion policy • 

Absentee and mail voting •  Administrative organization •  Administrative powers and rulemaking •  Age limits for officials •  Agriculture policy •  Alcohol laws •  American Indian issues •  Ballot measure process •  Ballot measure supermajority requirements •  Banking policy •  Bond issues •  Business regulations •  Business taxes •  Campaign finance •  Citizenship voting requirements •  Civil and criminal trials •  Civil service •  Collective bargaining •  Constitutional rights •  Constitutional wording changes •  County and municipal governance •  Crime victims' rights •  Criminal trials •  Death penalty •  Drug crime policy •  Early childhood education •  Early voting •  Election administration and governance •  Environment •  Ethics rules and commissions •  Executive official term limits •  Federal government issues •  Firearms policy •  Gambling policy •  Healthcare governance •  Higher education funding •  Highways and bridges •  Housing •  Immigration policy •  Impeachment rules •  Income taxes •  Initiative and referendum process •  Insurance policy •  LGBTQ issues •  Law enforcement •  Law enforcement funding •  Law enforcement officers and departments •  Local government officials and elections •  Local wages and pay •  Marijuana laws •  Military service policy •  Minimum wage laws •  Open meetings and public information •  Parks, land, and natural area conservation •  Primary election systems •  Private health insurance •  Property •  Psychedelic substances laws •  Public assistance programs •  Public economic investment policy •  Public education funding •  Public education governance •  Public health insurance •  Public transportation •  Race and ethnicity issues •  Ranked-choice voting •  Recall process •  Redistricting policy •  Religion-related policy •  Revenue allocation •  Revenue and spending limits •  Right-to-work laws •  Salaries of government officials •  Sex and gender issues •  State National Guard and militia •  State and local government budgets, spending, and finance •  State constitution ratification •  State constitutional conventions •  State executive branch structure •  State executive elections •  State executive official measures •  State executive powers and duties •  State judicial selection •  State judiciary •  State judiciary structure •  State legislative authority •  State legislative elections •  State legislative processes and sessions •  State legislative structure •  State legislative term limits •  Tax and revenue administration •  Taxes •  Telecommunications infrastructure •  Tobacco laws •  Transportation •  Utility policy •  Vehicle and driver regulations •  Veterans policy •  Voter ID policy •  Water •  Wildfire management

Other
Flag of Arkansas
v • e
State of Arkansas
Little Rock (capital)
Elections

What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

Government

Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy

Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Arkansas_Recreational_Marijuana_Legalization_and_Marijuana-Related_Conviction_Expungement_Initiative_(2022)&oldid=9128612"