Marijuana Blog

Those who oppose marijuana for various reasons have usually have plenty of money from big corporations who would like to see marijuana prohibition continue. So those who favor marijuana law reform need a lot of cash as well.

Take the ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana in Arkansas this fall, for example.

"It's been a full on campaign for a little over a year now," says Chris Kell, spokesperson for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, a non-profit campaign instrumental in putting the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act on the ballot.

"We've raised a lot of money from Arkansans [and] from very generous support financially from Marijuana Policy Project," says Kell.

Over $250,000, to be more exact, is what MPP has spent on medical cannabis in Arkansas.

"We are entirely a member supported organization. We have over 50,000 dues paying members and basically when we go into these campaigns, we like to focus on whatever we can do to get the issue in front of the voters. In this case, paying for petition gatherers and public education," says Morgan Fox with MPP.

The measure, Kell says, will help thousands of sick Arkansans receive the compassionate care they need.

"This law is actually 8,000 words long for that very reason, so that this is not a gateway to recreational drugs. This is truly about compassionate care and people that could really benefit from this medicinal marijuana," says Kell.

If medical marijuana is going to finally some to the “Bible Belt,” one state is going to have to be the first to do it. Whether or not the first is Arkansas remains to be seen, and is dependent on advocates in the state and their effectiveness.

And of course it depends on the money available to combat the lies of medical marijuana opponents.

Source: http://ozarksfirst.com