Arkansas was planning to legalize marijuana until it found that the written law contained both spelling errors and “ambiguities in text”.
According to Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, she rejected a proposed constitutional state amendment that would have legalized marijuana because of “errors of grammar, punctuation and spelling”.
The amendment was originally written by resident of Summit, Arkansas Marry Berry. The proposal would have allowed all residents of Arkansas to cultivate, produce, possess and use anything that was produced from the cannabis plant.
Rutledge took her time to identify grammatical mistakes that were present in the proposal.
For one, the proposal phrase written as “Any person eighteen (18) years of age and older” should have used the word “or” instead of “and”.
Another phrase written as “all products derived from the cannabis plant” was determined by Rutledge to lack clarity, because the products could include other ingredients and create potential legal loopholes.
Additional phrases were also said to be grammatically incorrect.
Rutledge informed Marry Berry that she must resubmit the measure and correct for mistakes.
Arkansas nearly passed legalized marijuana in 2012, as 48.56% of voters approved the legalization of the plant.
Meanwhile, another campaign called “The 2016 Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act” was certified by the Attorney General of Arkansas in 2014. The act is currently collecting signatures.
In Arkansas, when a person is caught with fewer than four ounces of marijuana for the first time, they are charged with a misdemeanor, and they can face up to a year in jail with a maximum fine of up to $2,500. A second offense increases the maximum fine to $10,000.
A recent Gallup poll showed that 58% of American believe marijuana should be legalized. The poll showed that young people were more likely to support legalization than older generations.
Even then, older citizens are also supporting marijuana legalization in increasing numbers.
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