Responsible Growth spends another $700,000 on signature process June 16, 2022 By Griffin Coop Responsible Growth Arkansas spent more than $700,000 last month in its attempt to get recreational cannabis on the November ballot, according to financial documents filed with the state Ethics Commission this week. Responsible Growth, led by former state legislator Eddie Armstrong, raised $80,000 last month, bringing total contributions to the campaign to $1.94 million. After spending $710,228 last month, mostly on signature-gathering services, Responsible Growth reported it had $223,115 on-hand. The largest expenditure last month was $405,000 to Advanced Micro Targeting Inc. of Dallas for the ballot signature process. Responsible Growth also paid $181,840 to Verified Arkansas, LLC for the ballot signature process last month. The group also spent $20,500 on advertising with the Arkansas Times (full disclosure: the Arkansas Times publishes Arkansas Cannabiz). Responsible Growth paid $300,000 to Advanced Micro Targeting in April. Last month, Responsible Growth received donations of $30,000 from Natural State Medical Group of Alexander, $25,000 from Ozark REA LLC of Sherwood and $25,000 from Valentine Holdings, LLC. Natural State Medical Group is the entity that owns Custom Cannabis dispensary in Alexander. Valentine Holdings is the entity that owns Purspirit Cannabis Company in Fayetteville. Ozark REA lists the same address as Natural Relief Dispensary and was incorporated by Andrew Ballard, who owns 10% of Natural Relief.
