Opponents of Issue 4, a constitutional amendment that would legalize adult-use of cannabis in Arkansas, say the amendment is written in a way that would allow a hostile takeover of the state’s current hemp growing and cannabidiol (CBD) businesses.
Currently, there are small farmers growing hemp across the state, some making and selling their own CBD products. There are likely thousands of retail outlets in the state that sell CBD products that are touted to help reduce inflammation and pain without the psychoactive effects of tetrahydrocannabinol. THC and CBD are the best-known chemical components of cannabis sativa.
A recent study by Leafwell evaluated Google Trends data of search terms frequently used by people interested in CBD. Arkansas was ranked fifth in the country for the number of searches for CBD.
Little Rock attorney David Couch, author of the successful 2016 constitutional amendment to legalize medical cannabis, said the way the cannabis is defined in Issue 4 is as cannabis sativa, which includes hemp. Couch is a public policy advocate and one of the more experienced attorneys in the state regarding ballot issues. In addition to the medical marijuana amendment, he successfully participated in drafting and promoting a casino ballot issue, and initiated ballot issues that raised the minimum wage in 2014 and 2018.
“Cannabis sativa is hemp,” Couch said. “This amendment actually puts regulation of hemp into the marijuana amendment, which means people in Arkansas who now grow hemp will no longer be able to grow and process it.
“Consumers won’t be able to buy CBD products anywhere except the dispensaries allowed under Issue 4. I think the backers of Issue 4 did this on purpose. Delta 8, which is responsible for many of the health benefits of CBD, is a competitor to marijuana now. It is a product made from hemp and is sold in hundreds if not thousands of locations in Arkansas. It is a competitor to medical marijuana. When efforts were made to get the legislature and Alcohol and Beverage Control to include hemp and CBD underneath the medical marijuana industry’s control, they drafted the amendment so they could control that market, too.”
Eddie Armstrong, Chair of the Issue 4 ballot question committee for Responsible Growth Arkansas, called Couch’s assertion “Unfortunate misinformation. It will not kill what we already have as an established hemp industry. Delta 8, 9 and 10 are being sold, which happened by legislation in the 2021 session. I see our hemp industry remaining here. We have good hemp growers. Hemp is legal on the federal level and this amendment would not change that.”
Couch said that while hemp has been legalized on the federal level, it is left up to states to determine how to regulate hemp and CBD sales. He advises comparing the Arkansas amendment with a similar ballot issue legalizing adult-use of cannabis in Missouri. That legislation makes an exception for hemp. Issue 4 does not.
“It will gut the hemp market,” Couch said. “It will just take it away. What upsets me is not the marijuana amendment itself, but the fact that they are spending millions of dollars to get this passed – money that they made off the patients of Arkansas because they have charged so much for their products. They have taken money from sick people and are using that to feather their own nest. Arkansas is a non-competitive market versus states like Oklahoma.”
Couch warns that if Issue 4 passes, it can’t be changed by the Arkansas Legislature. If it indeed guts the hemp and CBD market, he said the only thing that could be done is to pass another constitutional amendment in two or four years. He considers that unlikely because the wealth of the existing medical marijuana business owners will continue to grow by leaps and bounds if adult-use recreational marijuana is approved.
“I don’t think it was a mistake because it was so obvious the difference between the ballot issues in Arkansas and Missouri,” Couch said. “Good Day Farm, which has cannabis dispensaries in Arkansas, contributed large amounts of money to the ballot issues in both states. They had to know cannabis sativa includes hemp. I think these people are so greedy.”
The non-partisan University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Public Policy Center states that hemp is grown from the same species of plant as marijuana – cannabis sativa.
“The definition of cannabis under Issue 4 would by default include hemp,” the Center claims online in its 2022 Arkansas Ballot Issue Voter Guide. “Because hemp is regulated under state and federal laws, it is unclear how this proposed amendment would affect research and production of industrial hemp and related products in Arkansas. Hemp is typically obtained from a different variety or cultivar of the plant than marijuana.
“Under federal law, hemp has a THC concentration of not more than 0.3%. Changes to the definition of hemp in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the federal Farm Bill, removed hemp from being considered a controlled substance under federal law. States were allowed to create state-level hemp production plans.”
“Hemp is regulated in Arkansas under the Arkansas Hemp Production Act of 2021, which gave the Arkansas State Plant Board and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture the authority to create and administer rules associated with industrial hemp production and possession. The state’s program rules specify that state-licensed hemp growers cannot plant anything other than hemp. As of the date this voter guide was printed, there were 27 licenses to grow hemp in Arkansas and 11 licenses to handle or process hemp. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture currently has a license under the state program to grow hemp for research purposes only.”