LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - In a little more than a month Arkansas voters will decide whether medical marijuana will be legal in the state. Those in favor are pushing ahead while the Governor's Office is pushing right back.
Two weeks ago, Governor Hutchinson stood by members of the Arkansas medical community as they explained why smoking marijuana is bad for your health. On Wednesday, the Governor held a similar press conference, this time with what he called "job creators" by his side.
"It will not help us in the direction that we want to go in Arkansas in terms of increased economic success in this state”, the Governor said to the crowd.
With early voting less than a month away, the Governor's office is ramping up their efforts to keep medical marijuana out of Arkansas. In his corner are CEOs from various Arkansas companies and Lt. Governor Tim Griffin, who was the most passionate of all the speakers at the press conference.
"You can't work around heavy machinery in an industrial site," Griffin said. "You can't drive. You can't do so many things under the influence of drugs."
His main concern was safety.
"At a car manufacturing plant, do you want it put together by someone who has drugs in their system or without drugs in their system," he asked. "How about the plants that make airbags? We make some of those here in Arkansas. Do you want someone with drugs in their system or not in their system?"
Griffin said if the proposals pass in November, the Governor will have a harder time recruiting businesses.
"Businesses are already having trouble finding folks that can pass a drug test. It's only going to get worse after this," Griffin said.
Those in favor of Issue 7 have said that idea is unfounded.
"You look at the 25 states medical cannabis, there's been relatively few problems with those laws," said Deputy Director of Arkansans for Compassionate Care, Ben Denham. "It certainly hasn't impacted their state economies. It could be argued that it's actually helped their state economies. That it's created jobs. That it's been a net positive for their state economies.”
He said medical marijuana should be treated the same way as prescribed opioids in the work place. We asked the governor what would happen if both issues passed.
"Well, that's first of all a legal question, as to which one actually becomes applicable. It's my understanding that whichever one passes with the most votes is one legal interpretation, but I'm not sure that's 100% clear,” Governor Hutchinson replied.
Governor Hutchinson said he will host another press conference in two weeks about the difficulties in regulating medical marijuana.