By Nicky Boyette – The Medical Marijuana Amendment, known as Issue 6, was approved by Arkansas voters Nov. 8, and the Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Development invited David Couch, author of the issue, to speak Dec. 15. More than 50 people attended.
Mayor Butch Berry introduced Couch as an attorney who since 2001 has represented elderly people in nursing homes, worked to raise the minimum wage in Arkansas, advocated for election finance reform and crafted the medical marijuana initiative that is now law. Couch is the president of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Association.
Couch told the crowd he worked with Melissa and Gary Fultz on the 2012 Arkansas Medical Marijuana Initiative that lost by only 30,000 votes, less than a two percent margin. He said he went around the state explaining the initiative to voters at small churches, and time after time folks whispered their “cannabis confessions” to him. He said he could see a definite change in how people viewed marijuana, and was confident medical marijuana would be approved by the voters in 2016.
He said the biggest issue in 2012 was the grow-your-own provision that many people viewed as fraught with opportunity for abuse. This one issue was the reason he and the Fultses went separate ways in 2016. The Fultses sponsored Issue 7, which was stricken from the ballot. Regarding his Issue 6, Couch stated, “It passed, so here we are today.”
Couch said Issue 6 mentions 12 specific conditions and six general conditions that would qualify a patient to receive medical marijuana. Included in the general conditions are any diseases that cause seizures, chronic pain, muscle spasms or other debilitating diagnoses including post-traumatic stress disorder. Physicians licensed to practice in Arkansas cannot prescribe cannabis, but can recommend the patient would benefit from it. Couch estimated Arkansas would have 40,000 – 45,000 patients eligible for medical marijuana.
He also did not restrict purchasers to residents of Arkansas. He said as long as a person has a valid medical clearance, a patient from any state would be able to purchase in Arkansas.
To get a card signifying eligibility, one would go to a personal physician for a written recommendation. The Department of Health will issue a card, and the patient can purchase the product at any dispensary in the state.
Issue 6 sets up a distribution system, according to Couch, which is designed to keep costs down. The law calls for a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40 dispensaries in the state. A dispensary could be a nonprofit agency or a cooperative, for example, and each dispensary can grow up to 50 adult marijuana plants at a time. He compared them to craft breweries, which make specialty beers, because each dispensary can specialize in the cannabis strain it grows, and dispensaries can trade among themselves.
He said no one can own interest in more than one dispensary or cultivation facility, but one person can own one of each. When a card-holding patient goes to a dispensary, the purchase is recorded in a statewide database. A patient is allowed to purchase 2.5 ounces every 14 days, and dispensaries are allowed to deliver their products.
Couch said the Alcoholic Beverage Control would establish rules related to the operations of dispensaries and cultivation facilities. The Medical Marijuana Commission will determine the process for getting a license for a dispensary or growing facility. The five-member commission already met for the first time, and included are a surgical oncologist, a pharmacist, an anesthesiologist, an attorney and a lobbyist for the Arkansas railroad system. The commission must begin accepting applications for licenses by July 1, 2017. The license holder must be an Arkansas resident.
Though the concept behind this amendment was to provide medical cannabis for patients who need it, Couch said many politicians see it as an economic development issue, and polls indicate there should be enough support to pass a recreational cannabis initiative in 2020.
Couch commented the products would be taxed at the regular statewide sales tax rate, though one politician already floated the idea of a substantial additional tax. The sales tax revenue would be distributed as:
5% – Department of Health
2% – Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration Division
2% – Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Division
1% – Medical Marijuana Commission
10% – Skills Development Fund
50% – Vocational and Technical Training Special Revenue Fund
30% – General Revenue Fund
Couch estimated it would take $300,000 minimum to open up a dispensary and $1 million to start a growing facility. The commission has not yet decided how to award licenses, but Couch recommended a merit system rather than a lottery. He prefers clustering dispensaries where patients are, but scattering them throughout the state so there would be adequate access.
Only if there were too many highly qualified applications for licenses would Couch recommend a lottery to decide who gets a license. He anticipates the first dispensary in the state could open by Labor Day, and said Eureka Springs would really benefit from having one.