Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/725652
ByAndrewDemillo The Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, ARK. Repub- licans control all of Arkan- sas' statewide offices, hold a majority in both chambers of the Legislature and are nearly assured of winning the state's six electoral votes in the presidential election. But this deeply red state could be on the verge of an unusually liberal move: le- galizing marijuana for peo- ple who suffer from a host of medical ailments. The fall ballot will feature two marijuana measures, and pro-pot advocates view them as an important op- portunity to show that there is broad support for legalization even in conser- vative parts of the country, particularly the South. The referendums also of- fer a chance at a symboli- cally powerful victory in a state with a Republican governor who once led the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. "If a red conservative state like Arkansas in the Bible Belt can pass medi- cal cannabis, then anybody can," said Melissa Fults, who leads the campaign for one of the medical mar- ijuana proposals going be- fore voters. "People are de- pending on us. We can't let them down." Arkansas voters narrowly rejectedamedicalmarijuana proposal four years ago, de- spite national groups spend- ing big in favor of legaliza- tion. Meanwhile, national support for medical mari- juana has grown, and half of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized the drug in some fashion. But pot remains mostly illegal across the South. The fall campaign is "go- ing to be a little tougher battle, but I think every- one's views on medical mar- ijuana are like their views on gay marriage," said Da- vid Couch, the sponsor of a competing medical mar- ijuana measure. "They've softened over the past cou- ple years." Attitudes about mari- juana have eased in Arkan- sas, where voters in two cit- ies approved ballot initia- tives that encouraged police to regard arrests for small amounts as a low priority. Advocates hope the sup- port for medical cannabis will cross party lines, and they are counting on voters like Barb Soell, a 77-year-old retiree who expects to sup- port Republican Donald Trump for president. Soell, who backed the legalization measure four years ago, said she doesn't see any need to deny the drug to people suffering from cancer and other med- ical problems. "I don't think that med- ical marijuana is going to lead someone to use heroin or other drugs," Soell said. "That's nonsense." Both measures on the ballot would allow patients with certain conditions to buy from dispensaries, but the proposals have different restrictions and enforce- ment provisions. For exam- ple, Fults' plan would allow patients who don't live near a dispensary to grow their own marijuana. Couch's ini- tiative would not. So far, support for med- ical marijuana among the states has not translated into much progress at the federal level. The Obama administration in August decided to keep marijuana on the list of most danger- ous drugs but also planned to allow more research into its medical uses. Winning approval for medical can- nabis in a state such as Ar- kansas could help elevate the drug to a federal issue. The path to legalization still faces plenty of obsta- cles in Arkansas. Advocates fear having two measures on the ballot will doom le- galization efforts, with the campaigns battling each other as much as oppo- nents. If voters approve both proposals, whichever one gets the most votes be- comes law. A coalition of the state's most powerful lobbying forces, including the Arkan- sas Farm Bureau, the state Chamber of Commerce and social conservative groups have united to campaign against the measures and have sued to block votes for both of them. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who ran the DEA during President George W. Bush's first term, has stepped up his criticism, warning that legalization would be a bur- den on resources. "I do not see any tax boon to the state. I see more of a tax drain to the state," Hutchinson told county offi- cials from around the state at a recent meeting. Hutchinson and other op- ponents are trying to focus the debate on specific parts of the proposals that could carry unintended conse- quences, rather than fram- ing it as a general fight over medical marijuana. Busi- ness groups, for example, argue that the proposals would affect efforts to en- force drug-free workplace policies. DRUGS Arkansasballotwilloffera new test for medical marijuana SETHPERLMAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Lead grower Dave Wilson cares for marijuana plants in the "Flower Room" at the Ataraxia medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Ill. By Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON The head of the government's fight against the Zika virus said that "we are now essen- tially out of money" and warned that the country is "about to see a bunch of kids born with microceph- aly" in the coming months. Friday's warning from Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention Direc- tor Thomas Frieden came as lawmakers start to sort out a stopgap government funding bill that is be- ing targeted to also carry long-delayed money to bat- tle Zika. Zika is spreading more widely in the U.S. and can not only cause microceph- aly — in which babies are born with grave brain de- fects — but other problems that the country will face for decades. And 671 preg- nant women in the states and Washington, D.C., have the virus, leading to the birth of 17 babies with microcephaly so far. Frieden said funding de- lays have slowed long-term studies of the disease and production of new tests for it. "We haven't been able to get a running start" on a long-term battle against Zika, he said. Frieden added that "we don't like to see" the use of pesticides such as Friday morning's spraying of na- led, in Miami Beach. But, he said, new technologies for the application of such toxic chemicals are safe for humans. The two localized mosquito-borne outbreaks in Miami are "quite diffi- cult to control," Frieden said, adding that the type of mosquitoes that spread Zika "are the cockroach of mosquitoes." PresidentBarackObama in February requested $1.9 billion to fight Zika, but Republicans controlling Congress acted slowly on the request. A Capitol Hill fight this summer stalled the Zika aid. Republicans attached restrictions on any of the money going to affiliates of Planned Par- enthood in Puerto Rico. Democrats objected and blocked the $1.1 billion measure. In the interim, the ad- ministration has shifted about $650 million from other accounts to battle Zika, most of it unused money approved two years ago to fight Ebola. That money is almost gone. Now, negotiations are underway to break the im- passe over Zika and add it to the only piece of legisla- tion that has to pass Con- gress before the election: A stopgap funding bill to avert a government shut- down on Oct. 1. Democrats and the White House have greater leverage now since their approval is needed for the stopgap spending bill, and Republicans are signaling they'll likely lift the re- strictions on delivering contraception, treatment and care through Planned Parenthood, an organiza- tion that many Republi- cans loathe since it is a major provider of abor- tion. A bipartisan consensus is emerging to fund the government through mid- December, though some House tea party conserva- tives are opposed and want a longer duration for the measure to avert a lame duck session of Congress. Since the summertime impasse, Zika has spread even more widely, and frustration is mounting from lawmakers repre- senting affected areas. Al- most 3,000 people in the continental U.S. have been found to have Zika, and the total is far higher since most people don't display symptoms. The figures in- cluding Puerto Rico and the other territories are much worse. DISEASE CDC chief: 'Essentially out of money' to fight Zika SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B