Responsible Growth to release second TV ad, promotes job creation

The ad will come a day after the industry-backed group sponsoring the Adult Use Cannabis Amendment released an economic study that estimated the amendment would create 6,400 new jobs in the state. 

The study, commissioned by Responsible Growth and conducted by the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, also estimated that the amendment would create more than $2.36 billion in state gross domestic product and $460 million in tax revenue. 

The upbeat ad’s female narrator lists four reasons voters should vote for the amendment, known as Issue 4. The four reasons are: 

• Safely legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older
• Create new funding for local police departments
• Fund cancer research in Arkansas
• Create thousands of new jobs in Arkansas

Two of the reasons are based on how the amendment will dedicate tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales. The amendment will eliminate the tax on medical marijuana and will impose a new 10% supplemental tax on recreational marijuana sales. 

According to the amendment, 15% of tax revenue will be used to fund a stipend for certified law enforcement officers and 10% will go to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The economic impact study estimated the amendment would create 45.5 million for law enforcement and $30.4 million for UAMS over five years. 

The ad is the second for Responsible Growth whose recreational marijuana amendment was cleared for the ballot by the state Supreme Court last week. 

The first ad focused on the tax revenue that will fund a stipend for law enforcement. 

Opposition group Safe and Secure Communities released an ad focused on the negative consequences of recreational marijuana legalization in other states. The ad included a misleading claim about five newborns testing positive for marijuana at a 42-bed hospital in Pueblo, Colorado.