Out- of- state pot experts praise state’s regulatory approach
Owners of out- of- state marijuana businesses told a room full of Arkansas students, activists and business owners at a Clinton School of Public Service panel discussion Tuesday that government restrictions on marijuana would likely continue to ease with time.
And as far as federal laws that make marijuana illegal, Dan Anglin, chairman of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, said they were becoming less of a concern.
“So what?” he asked in response to a question from the audience.
Anglin, along with other panelists, emphasized the role that state lawmakers are increasingly playing in regulating marijuana use. And when it comes to federal regulations that govern banking, for example, Anglin said banks in Colorado are finding ways to provide services to marijuana companies.
Tuesday’s panel consisted of Anglin; David Couch, the sponsor of the voter- approved Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment; state Rep. Douglas House, R- North Little Rock, who was put in charge of shepherding marijuana bills through the House by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam; and Erik Williams, a founding partner of Will &
Way Total Cannabis Solutions in Connecticut.
Anglin said state regulations tend to be unfavorable to business at first but ease over time. However, Williams said he believed Arkansas lawmakers and regulators developed common- sense rules on their first try.
“Here in Arkansas they have taken a tack with the rules and regulations and the legislation that really understood the best way a regulatory structure works is when the regulatory agencies are in tune with the end goal,” he said. “That’s keeping bad actors out. That’s keeping it out of the hands of children. That’s making sure there are products that are effective.”
House said lawmakers are aware there’s a functioning illegal market for marijuana.
He said he was against the Medical Marijuana Amendment before the Nov. 8 election, but since then, he’s read marijuana research from Israel and heard “hundreds of times” from people who say “don’t tell my preacher or don’t tell my boss” that a family member could use medical marijuana.
“What we want to deliver — in competition with that market that’s right outside that door — clean, healthy, mitefree, fungus- free, insecticide-, pesticide- free product that is competitive with that market right outside,” he said to applause from the audience.
During Tuesday’s event, Couch gave the Legislature and regulators high marks for their work implementing the amendment. When Glen Schwarz, executive director of the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said his doctor didn’t want to be the first one to give a marijuana recommendation, Couch said doctors would be protected.
Couch said a provision in the amendment helps protect them from licensure issues,
and a bill sponsored by House keeps them from certifying the medical benefits of marijuana — an issue some were nervous about from a legal standpoint.
While the audience was mostly friendly to the speakers and the state marijuana amendment, Keith Olson, a Michigan resident who founded Criminalize Racketeering Against Patients, or CRAP, said there weren’t enough growers authorized under the amendment, which would result in substandard medical marijuana.
“I don’t see the federal government allowing the good ole boys to set up a system of five megagrowers,” he said.
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment allowed the commission to authorize between 20 and 40 dispensaries and between four and eight cultivation facilities. The rules, approved by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission, authorize 32 dispensaries and five cultivation facilities.
The rules from the commission, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division and the state Board of Health overcame their first legislative hurdle last week when emergency versions were approved by a subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council. The council is expected to consider permanent versions of the rules later this month.
Some marijuana sales could occur before January, with production ramping up around that time, according to an estimate from the Department of Finance and Administration. The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission is expected to begin taking applications for dispensary and cultivation facility licenses on July 1.