Arkansans for Compassionate Care (ACC), sponsors of the 2016 Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, Issue 7 on the ballot, filed an appeal Monday before the Arkansas Supreme Court of its ruling on Oct. 27 to disqualify Issue 7.

“We definitely feel like it was an unfair decision,” said Gary Fults, statewide volunteer coordinator for ACC. “More than 140,000 people had already voted in Arkansas when they ruled on this. That represents a quarter of the voting public. They have been disenfranchised. This has become a political issue, which is sad.”

Fults said they are asking people who haven’t yet voted to still vote for Issue 7.

The ballot challenge to Issue 7 was funded by backers of a competing ballot issue, Issue 6, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016. That left a bad taste in people’s mouth, especially those who had carefully considered the two different ballot issues and had decided to support Issue 7 because it is more focused towards affordable patient care, while it appears Issue 6 is designed primarily with corporate profits in mind.

Fults said the appeal is asking the court to consider the constitutionality of state signature-gathering laws that were interpreted by the Supreme Court in an overly onerous fashion. For example, if there was a mistake with one signature on a page of ten signatures – i.e., the person wrote down their birthday for the date the petition was signed – the entire page was thrown out invalidating ten signatures.

Fults said the Secretary of State accepted the signatures, but the court struck 3,500 signatures because of minor technical errors. That put the issue with 2,500 fewer signatures than required. Fults said those types of technical errors were used as an excuse by the Supreme Court to take a political position opposing medical cannabis. But he said this is about more than the cannabis issue.

“We are fighting for our issue, but we are also fighting for the rights of people in Arkansas to have their votes counted,” Fults said

Recently I advised in an opinion column for the Eureka Springs Independent to vote for both issues because if support for medical marijuana/cannabis is split, neither would prevail. People who desperately need medicine for conditions such as chronic pain deserve a safer alternative than opiates, and shouldn’t have to years longer for relief.

In states with legal medical marijuana, deaths of elders from opiate overdoses have declined significantly since medical marijuana was approved. Researchers found that opiate-related deaths decreased by about 33 percent in 13 states in the six years after medical marijuana was legalized.

ACC, despite being torpedoed by backers of Issue 6, is also advocating people vote for Issues 6 and Issue 7.

“We have been telling people to vote their conscience on Issue 6,” Fults said. “It is up to you. We have told people to vote for it.”

Fults said he and his wife, Melissa Fults, who is statewide campaign director for ACC, personally didn’t vote for Issue 6.

“We feel like it is a terrible law, but we also understand there are patients out there who need their medicine now,” Fults said. “We have told people to vote yes on Issue 6 because we care more about patients than our issues. ACC as a group has told people to vote for both.”

The Supreme Court vote disqualifying the petition was 5-2, with Interim Chief Justice Howard Brill dissenting, saying a retired judge assigned by the court to review the petitions said more than enough valid signatures were submitted. Brill said people should be permitted to vote on the initiative, and their votes counted.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette columnist John Brummett wrote on Oct. 30 that he voted for both and contends that Issue 6 is every bit as worthy as Issue 7, and maybe better because the proposed constitutional amendment is more protected from being weakened by the conservative Republican legislature than Issue 7. A constitutional amendment cannot be repealed except by a vote of the people.

Eureka Springs alderman James DeVito, who collected more than 500 signatures to put Issue 7 on the ballot, said he feels his vote was taken away from him. He early voted for Issue 7, but would have voted for Issue 6 if he had known Issue 7 was going to be disqualified.

“I lost the most important thing to me which is my vote,” DeVito said. “Without a doubt, the needs of patients supersede any of my desires for what I wanted. So I would have voted for Issue 6 if I had known Issue 7 was going to be disqualified.”

DeVito sees direct correlation with what in going on nationally and in Arkansas with regard to interference by governmental agencies with the intention of influencing the outcome of the election. He was referring to FBI Director James Comey, a Republican, re-opening an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while Secretary of State.

DeVito said coming out with the announcement at the last minute before the presidential elections broke FBI protocol regarding interfering in elections.

DeVito said there should be a time limit, and Arkansas Supreme Court rulings should not take place after voting has begun.

“There was really no reason for the Supreme Court to take that case at all when the signatures had already been validated twice,” he said. “There was no need for them to take that case at all. They don’t have to take every case that is put before them.”

DeVito said locally there is opposition to Issue 6 by backers of Issue 7 who fear Issue 6 could lock in bad regulations. But DeVito said if problems surface with Issue 6, it could be overridden by another constitutional amendment.