By Becky Gillette
There are more questions than answers after Arkansas voted to approve medical marijuana in the Nov. 8 election. How will it be determined who gets up to 40 dispensary licenses? How will the state decide who gets licenses for up to eight cultivation facilities? If these are done by bidding, will the medical marijuana market be controlled by wealthy corporate interests making medicinal marijuana too expensive for most patients to afford?
Another big issue is if cultivation will be allowed outdoors or only indoors. In Colorado and Oregon, indoor growing facilities have sapped so much energy that it has caused a strain on the electric grid. Advocates of “Natural Medicine for the Natural State” might prefer pot be grown outside as nature intended.
The governor’s office doesn’t have any answers to those and many other questions yet, according to J.R. Davis, spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
“We are still working through all of this,” Davis said. “It’s a very big lift, but the governor has already provided $3 million from his rainy day fund to kick start the process.”
Davis referred the Independent to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration for further information on licensing. Jake Bleed, director of communications for DFA, said the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment approved in the election gives DFA 120 days to create rules and regulations which will govern, among other things, the process of applying for and obtaining the permits to run either the cultivation facilities or dispensaries.
“The rules and regulations we will be putting together will go through the Administrative Procedures Act, which requires at least 30 days for public comment on proposed new regulations,” Bleed said. “Obviously, since the election happened so recently, we don’t have the rules written or drafted to put out for public comment. We have to get the Medical Marijuana Commission up and running. We have a lot of work to do.”
Bleed said it hasn’t yet been determined if marijuana will be cultivated indoors or outdoors, or how licenses will be issued.
“We are not taking applications, and we aren’t taking names to get on a list,” Bleed said. “We are not yet recording any public comments. The constitutional amendment does limit the number of dispensaries in one county to four. Statewide there can be up to eight cultivation facilities and 40 dispensaries. Those are two separate type of businesses or organizations.”
Bleed said the state has been in contact with other states with medical marijuana. “Hopefully we can benefit from their experience,” he said.
DFA will have a website dedicated to Medical Marijuana Commission, and information will be available there as it is developed.
Some local residents who support medicinal marijuana voted against the Medical Marijuana Amendment and instead in favor of Issue 7, the Arkansas Medicinal Cannabis Act, which required the businesses to be non-profit and had a “grow your own” provision for some patients. The Arkansas Supreme Court blocked votes from being counted on Issue 7 after a challenge of some petition signatures that was backed by the Medical Marijuana Amendment supporters. Because that action was taken after voting had begun, some people voted for Issue 7 before learning votes would not be counted on it.
Would it be possible to have a non-profit grow facility or dispensary in Eureka Springs? Again, the regulations haven’t yet been drawn up. While this is under discussion, one local resident who is following the issue closely says it will be too expensive for non-profits or small business owners to participate.
“There are so many things flying around behind the scenes,” he said. “But we are talking lots of money for either a dispensary or a grow operation. You must have a business plan in place, and page upon page of information must be submitted. It is a huge task to grow and process all these materials. The main concern of Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC), which will regulate the facilities, is security. Security is a huge issue that involves not just securing the facility, but having secure transportation of the product and money. There are a lot of bad guys looking for opportunity, and these facilities need to be secure from being robbed.”
There is also the consideration of testing laboratories. All marijuana coming from the grow facility has to be inspected and graded. Then there are issues regarding production and testing of edibles such as candies and brownies.
It isn’t even known if there will be a tax placed on the marijuana after it is grown before it is sold in a dispensary.
“So many people are fixated on making millions of dollars off these operations,” the source said. “All they can see is a dollar sign. No one seems concerned with the patient. It’s pretty astounding.”
ADH plans a process by which they can be petitioned to add qualifying conditions to the list. Some information can be found at www.healthy.arkansas.gov/Pages/MedMarijuana.aspx.
Meeting that 120-day deadline is considered unlikely.
“The passage of Issue 6 has created new responsibilities for ADH,” ADH said on the website listed above. “These responsibilities include rule making, issuance of Registry Identification Cards, tracking of dispensed marijuana and other operations. ADH currently does not have an established infrastructure for this type of program. It will take several months to secure funding, promulgate regulations, hire staff and implement contracts.
“Under this amendment, qualifying patients and designated caregivers can apply to receive Registry Identification Cards from ADH. ADH is required to maintain a database for dispensaries to verify the amount dispensed to cardholders. ADH will have other responsibilities, including regulating labeling and testing standards, establishing reasonable fees, considering public petitions to add additional medical conditions to the list of qualifying conditions, and submitting annual reports to the legislature.”
The website www.dfa.arkansas.gov/Pages/MedicalMarijuanaAmendment.aspx states: “The State is not issuing permits or otherwise authorizing the use of medical marijuana at this time. Please check back with DFA over the coming weeks and months for more information as these rules are developed.
“Use of marijuana under circumstances outside the limits of the amendment is still illegal in Arkansas.”