The Arkansas Department of Health said Tuesday it will not support ballot measures intended to legalize medical marijuana in the state, saying in a statement that the drug is not approved by the Federal Drug Administration.
The news came after Melissa Fults, campaign manager for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, appeared on the Dave Elswick Show on radio station KHTE-FM, 96.5.
"There was a statement by one of the proponents of medical marijuana that she had spoken to the Department of Health and that we were gearing up, expecting this ballot initiative to pass," said Nathaniel Smith, director of the Department of Health, in an interview. "That's not correct."
The news release was not a response but "an opportunity to reiterate and clarify our position," Smith said.
"We're discussing implications with our staff," he said. "The Department of Health, as any state agency, will comply with any legal requirements that become law, but no, we're not taking any specific actions to prepare for this. We don't know if what of any of these are going to be approved."
In an interview, Fults said Arkansans for Compassionate Care had spoken with the department back in 2012. Her group is sponsoring the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act.
She could have been clearer on the timing, she said.
"[Elswick] asked how the Health Department was going to get it started," she said. "I said, well, that's really up to the Health Department, but we've spoken to them in the past -- we haven't spoken to them recently -- but that they had been in contact, I believe, with Maine, New Mexico."
Smith said the department's strong stance against the measure is based on science.
"This so-called medical marijuana doesn't meet either standards of safety or effectiveness and for all of these conditions, there are FDA-approved alternatives," he said. "That's why I can't -- either as a physician or director of the Health Department -- support it. That's been our consistent position, even under the previous administration."
Of the scientific literature, Fults said medical marijuana has been studied all over the world, except in the United States. It has proved benefits, she said.
"Anyone else can come up with a new medicine, a new opioid that can kill people ... it's not a problem, but because cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug, they can't study it," she said. "When [Gov. Asa] Hutchinson came out against it, the department really didn't have a choice. But, as I've said many times before, it's not Hutchinson's choice and it's not the Department of Health's choice, it's the people of Arkansas' choice."
David Couch, a Little Rock-based lawyer sponsoring the rival Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment, echoed that sentiment.
"For decades, big pharma has stifled all research on medical marijuana," he said. "Eight veterans die each day as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical marijuana is one of the recognized treatments for that. We shouldn't let any more veterans die."
Smith said there is "a study here or a study there, but not the kind of controlled trials for something to be marketed or classified for a medical treatment."
"In the U.S., THC has been produced synthetically ... and that's marketed as Marinol," he said. "That's approved specifically for management of loss of appetite related to AIDS and for nausea, particularly associated with chemotherapy," he said.
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is found in cannabis.
"As an HIV physician, I did prescribe that medication, used it years ago, during the time we were treating AIDS patients before we had really effective treatments for the HIV," Smith said.
It "kinda worked," but not as well more modern medicines, he said.
Other components of marijuana have been tested and show some promise, Smith said, but that doesn't mean people should grow and smoke marijuana.
"It's much different to use a component, where you've purified the compound and you know how much you're giving, the dosage, the frequency and you can evaluate its effects," he said.
Arkansas Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe said there are instances where compounds found in marijuana plants show promise, but cognitive deficits -- especially in young adults -- from marijuana are a worry for physicians.
Using marijuana to develop better pharmaceuticals is good science, but he said the medical marijuana ballot measures "open the floodgates." While the FDA process isn't perfect, it ensures drugs are safe and effective, he said.
He said he believes part of the reason for the measures is the public's distrust of the traditional health care system.
"There's a significant number of people in this country who feel they've been dealt a wrong hand by their government and by their political leaders and I've begun to think that part of this medical marijuana popularity is not so much the people are in favor of medical marijuana," Bledsoe said. "It's almost they want to push back against whatever this is that they feel like is causing some of their problems."
A better solution would be decreased regulation and other changes of the traditional system, he said.
Metro on 07/13/2016