Lawmakers will watch the actions of the newly created state Medical Marijuana Commission over the next several weeks to see whether further changes are needed to the voter-approved constitutional amendment on the drug.
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If lawmakers believe that significant changes are needed, expect to see bills filed toward the end of the Legislature’s current regular session, said Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock, in separate interviews. The two lawmakers are organizing medical marijuana legislation in their respective chambers.
The amendment, approved by voters in November, would allow Arkansans under a doctor’s care to use marijuana for specific medical situations. Arkansas, 27 other states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico have legalized medical use of the drug.
The state is in the process of developing regulations on growing, dispensing and distributing the drug. The amendment created the commission to determine how many cultivation facilities and dispensaries are needed to meet the state’s needs. The Legislature can change some parts of the amendment.
Irvin said she believed that the commission is “working well” and would continue to do so but lawmakers should keep an eye on its decisions.
“We’re all trying to allow the commission to do its work, make recommendations, follow those leads before we act, so you probably aren’t going to see a lot of this until late in the session,” she said.
House said: “That gives them [the commission] a couple of months to tidy a lot of their loose ends up so we know where they’re going. If they don’t get to where we believe they need to go, we’ll certainly be sending suggestions.”
The regular session started Jan. 9. It resumes today after a long holiday weekend. Regular sessions typically last more than two months.
Of particular concern to Irvin is the impact of medical marijuana on the state’s budget.
“The program has to be self-sustaining,” she said. “I’m not interested — whatsoever — in putting forward extra general revenue from our state government that needs to go to streets and that needs to go to infrastructure and that needs to go to well-deserved programs for the needy.”
According to a state Department of Finance and Administration estimate, state government oversight of medical marijuana is expected to cost between $4 million and $6 million a year, but related tax revenue is expected to total only about $2.5 million.
That leaves fees to fill some of the financial gap if the program is to be self-sustaining, unless the Legislature increases taxes on the sale of medical marijuana.
The Medical Marijuana Commission has voted to authorize five cultivation facilities each with a $100,000 annual fee — a total of $500,000 per year.
It also has authorized 32 dispensaries that would pay either a $10,000 or $32,500 annual fee after the first year, depending on whether or not they grow marijuana. The constitutional amendment allows dispensaries to have up to 50 mature plants.
That would raise between $320,000 and $1.04 million per year.
The commission has also implemented application fees of $7,500 for dispensaries and $15,000 for cultivators — the maximum allowed under the amendment.
If the medical marijuana program costs the state money, Irvin said, she would support a special tax to bridge the gap between revenue and expenses, but does not favor the state drawing money off the program.
“You have to be so careful when you talk about these ‘sin’ taxes because it could have an effect that was unintended,” she said. “You always have to consider the black market.”
Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, who suggested using revenue from the taxation of marijuana to help pay for his proposed $105 million-a-year state income tax cut, said Thursday he would not pursue that plan during the regular session. He said it could be a topic for a task force proposed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to study tax cuts.
House said he wants to ensure that the Medical Marijuana Commission demands that dispensaries, cultivators and transporters maintain robust security over their operations.
“I will expect them to demand in their regulations and rules a security plan. You can’t just do this in a tin building. You’re going to have to have a concreted building, 24-hour observation, burglar system, employee checks, things like that. I expect them to have that,” he said. “If they [the commission] haven’t established that towards the end of the session, you would probably see a piece of legislation coming out and saying we’ll have a security plan.”
Both House and Irvin said Thursday that they are aware of talk by lawmakers to prohibit dispensaries from growing medical marijuana.
Medical Marijuana Commission member James Miller said at last week’s meeting that he expected such a bill to be filed.
“I’m going to talk to the body about that, probably Tuesday,” House said, referring to today. “Anything we do in the Legislature can’t be changed for two years, and that is serious. They may be right. I don’t know. Nobody knows. But if they’re not right, you can’t shift gears.”
He added that the ability of dispensaries to grow some marijuana is a check on the power of the five authorized dispensaries.
The Medical Marijuana Commission cannot deny dispensaries the ability to grow marijuana, but it can use regulations to make such a setup more expensive.
“All dispensaries are authorized under the amendment to grow up to 50 plants — have 50 mature plants at any one point,” said Joel DiPippa, legal counsel for the Department of Finance and Administration.
“The commission can’t change that. That would have to be changed by the Legislature. What the commission did was give an option for individuals that don’t want the regulatory burden of the grow requirements.”
Today, the House is expected to vote on two proposals approved by the House Rules Committee last Wednesday. David Couch, the Little Rock lawyer who sponsored the constitutional amendment, said he had no complaint with either bill.
House Bill 1026 would delay implementation of the use of medical marijuana by 60 days.
House Bill 1058 would ensure that medical marijuana records — while confidential — are not medical records subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, also known as HIPAA, House said. The bill also would remove a requirement that doctors determine the “potential benefits of the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the health risks for the qualifying patient.”
Legislative leaders have said they prefer that state agencies and the Medical Marijuana Commission to do as much as possible to implement the legalization and usage of medical marijuana, but individual lawmakers aren’t sure how it’s all going to turn out.
“I think the marijuana issue is going to be fraught with disaster if we’re not careful,” said Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville.