Gov. Asa Hutchinson and state lawmakers announced five people who will sit on a committee to oversee medical marijuana regulation after Arkansans voted to legalize it in November.
At a news conference Wednesday, the governor stressed the importance of having scientific expertise on the committee, saying citizens approved marijuana for medical use, not recreational use. His appointee, Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman of Little Rock, is a surgical oncologist and a professor of surgery at UAMS.
President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang named two committee members: James Miller of Bryant and Dr. J. Carlos Roman of Little Rock. Miller is a former state Senate chief of staff with extensive knowledge of rules and regulations, and Roman is a physician with experience in pain medicine, Dismang said.
Travis W. Story, a lawyer from Fayetteville, and Dr. Stephen J. Carroll, a pharmacist from Benton, were also put on the committee by Speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam.
Those five are charged with regulating the 20 to 40 dispensaries and the four to eight cultivation facilities approved by the passage of the Medical Marijuana Amendment, known as Issue 6, in the general election, Hutchinson said.
The governor, who opposed the amendment and is a former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said allowing medical marijuana without proper review by the Food and Drug Administration was “a position I'd hoped I would never be in.” However, Hutchinson said, his opposition does not affect how he plans to govern on the issue, saying “it's not a question of how we feel about implementing it.”
Dismang, who also voted against Issue 6, said he recognizes medical marijuana use “had the support, the will of the people” despite his personal objections.
Both of his appointees voted against the amendment, Dismang said. The governor and Gillam declined to say how their committee members voted when asked.
Hutchinson said he is inclined to favor a lottery system to give out permits for the allotted number of dispensaries and cultivation centers, though he noted it is still very early in the process. The licenses will be highly sought after, the governor said, and he and other lawmakers want to make sure they get it right.
“It's going to be a lot of work,” he said.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.