State medical marijuana patients still waiting on licenses

State medical marijuana patients still waiting on licenses

ADH targets February to begin distributing prescription cards, residents cautioned not to cross state lines with illegal weed From the Arkansas News Service www.arkansasnews .com FORT SMITH – Arkansas’ health department has yet to issue licenses to the thousands of residents approved to buy medical marijuana in the state, which is affecting patients’ ability to get temporary licenses in neighboring Oklahoma.

The Arkansas Department of Health likely won’t distribute medical marijuana cards until February, agency spokeswoman Meg Mirivel said. State health officials don’t want residents to pay for a card they won’t be able to use yet, in part because the cards must be renewed after a year, she said.

Marijuana-growing businesses licensed by Arkansas have said their harvests won’t be ready until about April. The Arkansas Health Department has said cards wouldn't be printed until a month before Arkansas dispensaries have medical cannabis available, the Southwest Times Record reported.

Without the state cards, Arkansas patients can’t get a temporary out-ofstate card to buy, use and grow medical cannabis in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority won’t accept Arkansas patients’ medical cannabis approval letters for verification in the temporary license application, said spokeswoman Melissa Miller.

Oklahoma’s temporary licenses last for 30 days and are renewable. Miller noted medical marijuana and related products cannot be taken across state lines.

Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana in 2016, but the state’s implementation process is moving more slowly than its neighbor.

Oklahoma’s medical marijuana agency had awarded licenses to 805 dispensaries, 1,302 growers and 341 processors as of Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, Arkansas has awarded five licenses for cultivators to grow marijuana, with plans to award licenses to the state’s first dispensaries soon.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is cautioning medical marijuana patients that buying marijuana from licensed stores elsewhere to take back across state borders is against state and federal laws.

Hutchinson's note came after Arkansas regulators announced last week they would issue medical marijuana identification cards to patients earlier than the previously announced date.

Some had concluded the move to give ID cards to Arkansans earlier could be a boon to Oklahoma cannabis businesses just across the state border, since Arkansas has seen significant delays in the launch of its own medical cannabis program.

There was also conjecture that the regulatory move in Arkansas was perhaps connected to recent news reports highlighting Oklahoma’s reciprocity law.

[Editor’s Note: More details on the governor’s comments about Arkansans buying out-of-state marijuana can be found on Page 4 in Gov. Hutchinson’s weekly column]