Arkansas medical marijuana – now what?

By Becky Gillette – Eureka Springs High School 2011 graduate Amanda Mazili, who is employed at a recreational marijuana dispensary in Colorado, said she is pleased that Arkansas pushed hard enough this year to get medical marijuana approved by voters.

“I support every aspect of this new change,” Mazili, assistant manager and media/marketing manager for Chronic Therapy, a boutique shop located in Wheat Ridge, said. “I am a little concerned as to how Arkansas will begin the process. Hopefully it will be with a collective demeanor and at a slow pace. It takes a lot to create a regulated industry.”

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment approved Nov. 8 contains a provision giving the state only 120 days to get up and running. There is doubt that can be done considering the large amount of planning and infrastructure to put in place.

Some people are interested in having a grow facility or dispensary in Eureka Springs. But there are concerns that costs for licenses, security and getting the operations established will be prohibitively expensive except for big business.

“We are talking millions for either a dispensary or a grow operation,” one local farmer said. “You must have a business plan in place, and page upon pages of information must be submitted. It is a huge task to grow and process all these materials.”

Mazili said quality controls could be lacking for companies that get into medical marijuana primarily to make a lot of money. She said the small, independent company she works for has found a loyal customer base by providing top quality products sold by employees who are familiar with the types of cannabis formulations most effective for a variety of medical conditions.

Mazili said profit shouldn’t be the primary motive for owners of grow facilities and dispensaries. “The main concern is having a professional outlook and experience in business,” she said.

The Arkansas amendment allows marijuana to be prescribed for cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Tourette’s syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, PTSD, severe arthritis, fibromyalgia and Alzheimer’s.

The Arkansas Dept. of Health plans a process by which they can be petitioned to add qualifying conditions to the list. Mazili recommends citizens advocate cannabis prescriptions for many other types of medical conditions, big or small. She said cannabis is often the safest and most effective treatment.

“Marijuana relieves the vast majority of pain symptoms ranging from diseases such as cancer, glaucoma, M.S., tremors, and epilepsy to common body pains such as arthritis, muscle and joint pain, surgery recoveries, migraines, menstrual cramps, and plenty more,” Mazili said. “Insomnia, anxiety, appetite loss, ADD and ADHD, to name a few, are the most common, day-to-day conditions relieved by medical marijuana. Indica is the go-to for those struggling with sleep. CBN is the most effective cannabinoid responsible for the most sedative effects. Mixing the two results in a full night sleep. Here in Colorado, I have noticed edibles are the most common form of cannabis used to treat insomnia. These edible companies have the ability to retrieve strains with high CBN, and heavy Indica strains in order to make product specifically used for sleep.”

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine estimates 30 percent of Americans suffer from occasional insomnia while ten percent have chronic insomnia. Studies estimate insomnia costs $63 billion in lost work performance annually. However, many businesses currently have marijuana drug testing programs for employees, and as medical marijuana has become more common and is now approved in some form or another in 44 states, there is a collision between medicine that might improve productivity and current workplace drug policies.

People who work in the medical marijuana industry at the retail level need to have a great deal of knowledge to provide people with the right medicine for health.

“The more accepted cannabis has become, the more patients look to us with hopes of letting go of their pharmaceutical drugs that can have bad side effects,” Mazili said. “And most do transition to medical marijuana as an alternative medicine, usually through the knowledge of their budtender. Surely, there are folks who choose to go online or to cannabis experts to learn about what ways they can benefit from cannabis as medicine. Most the time, they go to recreational dispensaries to learn as much as they can, as well as to see if they need to go through the process of getting their medical marijuana card.”

Mazili said their dispensary is located in a suburb, which has more of a family or retired demographic than Denver.

“With this, most of our customers come in looking for more of a long-term benefit through cannabis, versus a dispensary located by the airport or in downtown Denver where the demographic consists of mainly tourists and one-time shoppers that may not even be seen again,” she said. “The point I’m making here is that at Chronic Therapy, our staff is very knowledgeable in all benefits and uses of cannabis. Our clientele comes to the store looking for answers for the most beneficial way to treat their medical needs. If our staff didn’t know what specific products were needed, the customer would not find the relief they’re looking for, and may even become discouraged by the medical marijuana industry.

“The satisfaction we gain when truly helping patients find natural medical benefits is incredible, and so rewarding. There have been times were we have teared a bit with our patients. To see the look of hope, happiness, and gratefulness is really a feeling I could not explain. Maybe it is something similar to your heart wrapped in a blanket.”

She also is proud of other aspects of Chronic Therapy. They have a state-of-the-art grow located on site, with four master growers.

“We have a signature strain called Night Berries, that was created here by our master grower, Jason DuBois, who is actually a native of Fayetteville,” Mazili said. “In October of 2015, we opened our own Marijuana Infused Product Facility and have been making our own concentrates named Chronic Creations. So, we now hold three licenses and have been doing great!”