An outrageous delay

Nearly two years ago, Arkansas voters passed a constitutional amendment that granted sick and dying people legal access to marijuana. Soon after, the Arkansas Legislature proceeded to devise various measures meant to throw every possible obstacle in the path of the amendment’s implementation.

The outcome has been a circus of not-so-funny setbacks for over 5,000 patients already qualified for this medicine. Now the earliest estimated date for the availability of medical marijuana is summer 2019.

This outrageous delay and its collateral damage rest at the feet of every elected official now holding the power to jump-start this program. Even though the amendment requires that marijuana for medical use be produced in this state, the time has come for the governor and/or legislators to introduce an emergency measure to import marijuana from other legal states to provide for credentialed patients until such time Arkansas can scrape its sorry act together.

Research continues to show that cannabis is effective for seizures, spasms, nausea, PTSD, and pain. A New Mexico study found that 84 percent of patients who received access to medical cannabis reduced their opioid prescriptions. Israeli researchers discovered that smoking cannabis improved many of the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. Another study found that cannabis substituted for prescription medications in 63 percent of patients.

What is the point of continued suffering when patients in 29 other states have legal access? Who among our elected leaders has the courage to provide for Arkansas people as this amendment intended? Governor Hutchinson?

DENELE CAMPBELL

West Fork