Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist criticizes state board’s marijuana decision

Brummett’s opinion contrasts that of an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial last month that blasted marijuana use and expressed dismay at Responsible Growth Arkansas’s attempts to legalize it. 

Here’s a sample from Brummett’s column: 

“Regnat populus” my patoot. Never has a state been as afraid as Arkansas of its own motto, which means “the people rule,” which they don’t and which the powers-that-be fear and resist.

Ever since the people approved ballot issues by direct democracy to raise the minimum wage, spread casino wagering and permit sick people to get marijuana for medical reasons with a doctor’s note, the overwhelmingly Republican bosses of Arkansas have been aghast.

And here’s what he had to say about the Board of Election Commissioners’ judgment in deciding to shoot down the ballot title: 

And, in a non sequitur for the ages, the state Board of Election Commissioners, which consists of Republican officeholder appointees except for one Democrat, and which oversees elections, got installed as the first review body for the appropriateness of ballot titles.

These are not judges. There is no reason to think they know any more about ballot titles than you do, or as much.

But they were just sick the other day that the recreational marijuana ballot title didn’t say that the THC maximum-content allowance for marijuana would be eliminated in favor of regulations to be set by the ABC on things like edible candies that might get in the hands of children, and the child-proof packaging to be required.

That provision is in the body of the amendment. It’s there for opponents to exploit and rail against to try to dissuade voters.

You can’t put everything in an amendment in the ballot title, because then it would be not the title, but the amendment.