Arkansas lawmakers have advanced a plan to delay the launch of the state's medical marijuana program and a proposal removing a requirement that doctors recommending the drug say benefits outweigh its risk.
With unanimous support, lawmakers at a House Rules committee meeting voted Wednesday to advance two bills — HB 1026 and HB 1058 — proposed by Rep. Douglas House, R-North Little Rock,.
HB 1026 would give agencies until May, rather than March, to adopt the laws governing the program. It also pushes the deadline back a month for Arkansas to begin accepting dispensary and cultivation facility applications, from June 1 to July 1.
HB 1058 strikes a line in the amendment saying physicians who prescribe marijuana will do so to patients for whom the “potential benefits” likely “outweigh the health risks.” It also states a medical marijuana-user’s registry identification card should not be a medical record.
House gave legislators on the committee a quick overview of both bills. Changing the deadline for accepting dispensary and cultivation center applications makes sense, House said, because June 1 comes one month before the end of the fiscal year and is “a bad time to start anything.”
In that bill, House also states the original allotment of 120 days to finalize regulations is not enough time. The five-member commission deciding these laws needs an extra two months, or 180 days in total, because the preset dates are “impractical to encompass the magnitude” of the program, the bill says.
And citizens “need certainty about the law and rules...before fully investing time, funds, personnel and other resources into the development of dispensaries and cultivation facilities,” the bill states.
While presenting HB 1058, House told the House committee there are no consistent recommendations medical professionals turn to when deciding if a patient should be prescribed marijuana. There’s a wide range of opinions, he said, that vary from strict moderation to “start smoking til you feel better.”
The amendment, in its current form, says physicians must determine the benefits of the substance outweigh the risks for their patients. This requirement opens those doctors up to liability, House said, which makes them less likely to write a prescription.
“Physicians will not sign that letter,” he said.
Both bills passed through committee with little debate and are expected to go before the full House next week.
Three other bills sponsored by House dealing with medical marijuana were scheduled for discussion, but the representative tabled them for a later date.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.