H. Lewis

Arkansas opened its first dispensary in 2019, nearly three years after the state passed the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment. Passing at a crisp 53%, the issue had been on ballots before, narrowly missing the winning mark by only a few percent. It's clear cannabis has been on the minds and hearts of Arkansans, burrowed

somewhere near Bill Clinton and summertime love of floating the buffalo river. 

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Attention has quickly shifted from the statewide shortage of cannabis, to a more impressive

statistic of breaking $200 million in revenue since legislation passed in 2016,

and sales began in 2019. Over 50,000 patients have been approved as of May 2020,

according to mpp.org, yet according to the language of the amendment only ”4-8" applicants are allowed cultivator licenses to grow cannabis.  A problematic number, considering the state permits only "20-40" dispensaries, statewide.

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Arkansas marijuana patients felt the blunt end of this sword in October 2020, when there was a reported shortage of accessible product available due to a lack of supply from farmers.

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Rustling up questions of whether to amend policy to make room for more cultivators, Arkansas decided on the more appropriate monopoly, siding with farmers' claims that there was no shortage. 

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Legal questions started rustling out of the dark when citizens of the natural state began to wonder if they would need to travel across the Oklahoma border to get their medicine, reported as early as January 2019 before the State had opened it’s first dispensary. 

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Traditionally the Nation's largest producer of rice, Arkansas enjoys the benefit of all season farming, and a humid climate in the summer. Prime real estate for industrial grow operations, government oversight concerning limitations on farmers provides a questionable balance of “Right for patients vs. Right for business”. 

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Being one of the early southern adopters of medical marijuana, Arkansas could have set the tone to prioritize patients, and industry, however that question has yet to be answered, and remains a mystery to policymakers and consumers alike. 

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Supply chains aside, other questions start to arise for the proper card carrying medical marijuana patient, "How much of what product can I possess?" "Is that how much I can buy, or how much I can have?" "How do we address transporting?"

“How do I know the feds won't raid me for a joint?"

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Sources report multiple experiences of shoddy "legal suggestion'' from dispensaries, claiming some authoritative stance on laws. One patient who prefers to remain unnamed is quoted saying "They told me I could have as much as I want, but I can only purchase 2.5 ounces every two weeks". 

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A quick Google search reveals the suggestively passive language of "...May purchase up to 70.87 grams or 2.5 ozs every 14 days", but scarce is the mention of the dreaded word "possession".

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Arkansas deserves crystal clear clarity when concerning the difference between driving home from the dispensary in your front seat, or in the backseat of a patrol car. 

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Here's the bottom line:

Voters asked, legislators answered. Now it's time to get it right Arkansas can answer the call of being a leader in an industry where lives depend on the precision and clarity of lawmakers.

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Let's just hope they're not on Do Not Disturb.