FAYETTEVILLE
Issue 7 supporters rallied outside of the Washington County Courthouse hoping
to raise awareness about the Arkansas Supreme Court decision to disqualify the
medical marijuana measure, which supporters said undermines their voting
rights.
"Arkansas is
supposed to be a compassionate state and Arkansas is supposed to be a fair
state," supporter, Corey Hunt said. "But, I'll tell you, what's
happening here is not fair."
The rally was
organized by Arkansans for Compassionate Care.
"People feel it's
unjust and that their voters are being robbed, and democracy is being
undermined," campaign director, Abel Tomlinson said. "Many people
would've voted differently if they'd of known we were going to be kicked off.
150,000 people have already voted in early voting. Now, they're votes don't
count. This is wrong."
Issue 7 supporter said
although they are frustrated, they are hoping to turn this into something
positive.
"A lot of
[supporters] have cancer or epilepsy or some disease has touched their lives
and they know that cannabis has worked for treatment," supporter,
Don Wicker said. "We want that option to have that as natural
medicine rather than all these pharmaceuticals that people are getting addicted
to and that are killing them."
Some supporters said
they went in to vote and came out to the news of the disqualification of the
issue.
"I went from
anger to tears within an hour," Wicker said. "I early voted on Monday
and I went back in on Thursday and I came back out and one of the politicians
told me that he had seen it on the news."
Many early voters said
they voted no on Issue 6, which is the other medical marijuana measure, and yes
on Issue 7 before the court made its ruling.
Representative from
Arkansans for Compassionate Care plan to have their lawyer contact the Arkansas
Supreme Court about the issue being disqualified and will take legal action if
necessary.
Issue 6 is still on
the ballot, but supporters encourage Arkansans to continue voting for Issue 7
as they wait to see if the Supreme Court will overturn its decision.
Source:
5newsonline.
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