Marijuana talk opens conference

HOT SPRINGS — Lawyers from across the state gathered in Hot Springs on Wednesday for the first day of the Arkansas Bar Association’s annual conference, which included presentations on topics ranging from medical marijuana to tort reform.

The conference will last two more days, and the event’s organizers expect about 800 people to show.

The association has more than 5,500 members, and the conference represents the largest legal gathering in Arkansas, according to the association.

A presentation on Arkansas’ medical marijuana attracted more than 180 people who heard from David Couch, a Little Rock attorney who drafted what became Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, making medical marijuana legal in the state.

Couch said he wasn’t surprised Arkansans voted to allow medical marijuana in the state.

“People would go up and whisper to me, ‘We buy pot for my grandmother,’” he said.

Arkansans voted to legalize the drug in November 2016, when they approved Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution. That made Arkansas the 33rd state to legalize medical marijuana. After legal and regulatory issues delayed getting the program off the ground, marijuana was sold legally May 10 in Arkansas for the first time since the drug was criminalized in the state in 1923. There are more than 11,000 registered patients in the state.

At Wednesday’s session, Couch discussed techniques he used to try and make the 2016 marijuana initiative successful. He said he thinks more progressive residents vote in presidential elections than in primaries, so he tried to get the amendment on the ballot during a presidential election.

Couch said he thinks medical marijuana should be viewed in the same way as a prescription, and he also said he thinks Arkansans are on board with people using the substance to treat medical conditions.

He said he thought the Medical Marijuana Commission, which determined how the state would open the dispensaries, took more than two years to open the dispensaries because the five-member group didn’t include any accountants or people with business backgrounds, saying those types of people could have helped with the technical side of opening such facilities.

Audience members asked questions about the distinctions between federal and state laws regarding marijuana, medical advice to patients at dispensaries and if doctors are required to prescribe marijuana to patients.

Couch also spoke on a panel involving tort reform as did Paul D. McNeill with RMP Attorneys at Law; Jeff R. Priebe with James, Carter & Priebe; and David H. Williams with The Law Offices of David H. Williams. Retired justice Annabelle Imber Tuck moderated the panel.

The panel discussed the history of tort reform, which often involves how much money people can obtain from lawsuits or the fees an attorney can charge clients.

Panelists debated the history of tort reform and discussed the recent ballot initiative that failed in the 2017 election.

Today, the conference will cover issues such as the process of drafting legislation and a criminal law update from the 92nd General Assembly. On Friday, a panel will review the 92nd General Assembly, and Nathan Bogart with Bogart Immigration will speak on immigration law.