Eureka Springs : Group gets ‘pot’ proposal on ballot
Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2006
A Fayetteville pro-marijuana group has collected enough signatures for a November ballot initiative seeking to make marijuana arrests in Eureka Springs a low law enforcement priority.
Fayetteville NORML collected the required number of signatures to put the question to Eureka Springs voters during the Nov. 7 general election, said Ryan Denham, the group's president.
The Carroll County Election Commission approved the ballot measure Monday, election coordinator Cathy Ellis said.
The initiative seeks to make arrests and prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana possession of 1 ounce or less a low priority, Denham said.
"We believe this is going to free up other police resources to deal with more serious crimes,"he said.
Eureka Springs Police Chief Earl Hyatt said the effort contradicts Arkansas law's requirements for marijuana possession, a Class A misdemeanor.
With such misdemeanors, the arresting officer has a choice of making an arrest or releasing the person on a citation to appear in court, he said. State law requires the suspect be fingerprinted before being locked up or released.
"Whether it passes or not, if it's in contradiction with state or federal law, it doesn't count,"Hyatt said.
Last week, Eureka Springs City Clerk Mary Jean Sell verified the petition contained 156 valid signatures - a dozen more than were needed, Ellis said.
Ellis and Denham said the target number was based on 15 percent of the votes in the last mayoral race.
Fayetteville NORML - part of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws - seeks to decriminalize marijuana and to promote use of medical marijuana.
"It's either lowering the fines or making it a nonarrestable offense - like a traffic citation,"Denham said.
The local group began two petition drives in Fayetteville from April to June, one to make possession of misdemeanor amounts of marijuana that city's "lowest law enforcement priority"and the other to allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana, Denham said.
The group aborted both petitions after realizing it was running out of help and time to gather the needed signatures, he said.
Even on the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville campus, registered voters who could provide a valid petition signature were hard to come by.
"It's pretty disappointing,"Denham said. "We did voter registration drives for about a year on campus in preparation for these petition drives."
The local NORML group then decided to focus on nearby Eureka Springs. Its initiative is patterned after decriminalization efforts in 11 other states and in cities such as Columbia, Mo., and Ann Arbor, Mich., he said.
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