A Senate committee advanced legislation banning the smoking of medical marijuana and the manufacturing of edible products -- both actions over the objections of the lawmaker tasked with organizing medical-marijuana legislation in the House.
But a proposal by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, to halt implementation of the voter-approved Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment until the program is legal under federal failed to clear the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.
The measures are part of a growing list of at least 30 bills affecting the implementation of legalized medical marijuana. House and Senate committees considered about a dozen of those bills in meetings Wednesday, with most advancing to their respective chambers.
The two contentious measures that did pass the Senate committee -- Senate Bill 357 by Rapert and Senate Bill 333 by Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch -- head to the Senate for further consideration.
[BILL TRACKER: See the status of all marijuana-related bills in Arkansas Legislature]
Like all bills that modify the details in the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, those measures will need the approval of two-thirds of both the House and Senate to become law.
Rapert and Stubblefield said their measures were aimed at bringing the amendment in line with medical purposes.
"If you allow this to go forward without restricting smoking of marijuana, you actually have nothing that prevents a 4-year-old from smoking marijuana," Rapert said of his bill to ban marijuana smoking.
But Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock, who is tasked with organizing medical-marijuana legislation in the House, said marijuana oils are expensive and a fully functional black market exists throughout the state. He said he wouldn't have a problem banning marijuana smoking where cigarette smoking is banned.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson has also said he is against a smoking ban.
"Clearly, when the people voted for it, they probably had smoking on their mind -- smoking in the context that it would be one of the delivery systems," he said in a January interview.
Stubblefield, who sponsored the bill to ban edible production, said other states have similar bans.
And Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, the House sponsor, said the products could appeal to children.
"I'm very concerned about this as a parent," she said.
But House said the committee was limiting the options of patients.
"If we outlaw smoking and we outlaw taking it by a vector, that doesn't leave many choices for certain types of conditions," he said. "Creams and ointments don't take care of all of the problems. So, if we're going to have medical marijuana, we need to be able to sell it."
House uses the term "vector" instead of "edible."
Also on Wednesday, the House Rules Committee approved a bill to allow employers the discretion to reassign, suspend or fire employees in safety-sensitive positions if those workers use medical marijuana.
Rep. Carlton Wing, R-North Little Rock, said House Bill 1460 ensures employee safety and places the burden of proof on the employer.
"This bill is an employee-protection bill, and it protects all who are doing business in whatever the establishment is," he said.
But Melissa Fults, executive director of Drug Policy Education Group and a supporter of medical marijuana, said the bill goes too far. Regular medical marijuana users would always test positive for marijuana, she said.
"I would be penalized because I was a patient, even if I was not under the influence," she said.
The committee also approved House Bill 1580 by House to impose an additional 4 percent tax when marijuana changes hands. The tax would be collected when cultivation facilities sell to dispensaries and when dispensaries sell to patients.
House said the bill is aimed at plugging the gap between the cost of administering the state's medical-marijuana program and expected sales tax revenue.
A state Department of Finance and Administration analysis found that the bill would likely raise $2.4 million by fiscal 2019.
Fults, who opposed the bill, said it is wrong to tax medicine.
"It's already going to be a problem keeping the black market out," she said. "I don't want the black market. I want it to be done legally, but adding additional taxes is just opening the door for it."
Metro on 03/02/2017