Medical Marijuana in the South: An Arkansas Perspective

In November of 2016 Arkansas passed Issue 6, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, creating a state constitutional amendment legalizing the prescribing, sale, and consumption of cannabis for medical conditions defined in the amendment. Since it's passing the Arkansas Department Health and the state-appointed marijuana commission have been working to setup the rules governing dispensaries, cultivation facilities, and patient registration.

The Arkansas Department of Health has recently made available the forms which, once filled out by your family physician, are then sent to the department for verification that the patient has a qualifying condition. Supposedly on the 30th of this month patients will be able to being applying via the online application system. Medical cannabis is not expected to go on sale until early 2018, as cultivation facilities and dispensaries are still in the application process.

There were actually two medical cannabis amendments on the Arkansas ballot back in November. Issue 6, the one that passed, and Issue 7, the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, which allowed for growing of medical marijuana by approved patients. The Arkansas Supreme Court disqualified Issue 7 from the ballot after voting had already started (I had already cast my vote when this happened), breaking their own rules about when a ballot issue could be disqualified. Issue 6 passed by a narrow margin in the state, and has undergone attacks from groups who think that cannabis is a horrible drug that will destroy our communities, even though science and research have said differently.

Asa Hutchinson, the governor of Arkansas, former DEA head, and a staunch supporter of the failed war on drugs, held several conferences and press briefings leading up to November with so-called "experts" claiming how the drug cartels will move in , the roads will become a dangerous place, and your children will overdose on cannabis and die. There was so much FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) spreading it was getting hard to walk. After the passing of issue 6, Mr. Hutchinson stated that the legislature would implement the will of the people, but he didn't make it a secret that he thinks it's a bad move for the state.

It is estimated that 30-40,000 Arkansans will be applying for medical cannabis, very similar to the market size of New Mexico, one of the states visited and examined as an example of their medical cannabis policy. Does this mean that 30,000 people in Arkansas are going to be getting as high as possible then getting behind the wheel of their car for a joyride or vehicular manslaughter spree? Are we going to see a sudden surge of crime in our communities as people become consumed by the influence of Satan's Spinach? Are the cartels going to move in and force the cultivation facilities to grow more than they should, or force dispensaries to sell to the cartels? That's what some people would have us believe.

Soon cultivation center and dispensary licenses will issued, and patients will receive their ID cards from the Department of Health about 30 days before cannabis goes on sale in the Natural State, thereby keeping patients from having a card for up to 6 months with no way of obtaining legal medical cannabis. There are municipalities in the state, like my town of Eureka Springs which has a history of drawing tourism for the healing waters of the natural abundant springs, welcome the legal cannabis industry with open arms, while other cities in the state are taking a very staunch "Reefer Madness" approach, decrying cannabis as horrible, addictive, life-destroying drug.

I will be writing more about the emerging medical cannabis industry in Arkansas here on Steemit as time goes by, including my experience with the application process (yes, I've spoken with my family physician on multiple occasions, and will be registering as a patient).

Follow me @eurekaj for more information about the Arkansas medical cannabis industry, and more posts about life in Eureka Springs, AR.


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