By Monterey Bud
A long time bastion of marijuana prohibition, the Deep South is slowly waking up and allowing medical marijuana a respectable place in their accepted pharmacopeia.
On Wednesday, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) announced they would begin accepting medical marijuana applications for patients seeking state-issued cards by the end of June.
Passed last November by a respectable 53-46%, Arkansas’s list of qualifying conditions is extensive:
- Cancer
- Glaucoma
- HIV
- Hepatitis C
- Lateral sclerosis
- Tourette’s syndrome
- Crohn’s disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- PTSD
- Severe arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Cachexia
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Chronic pain
Firing up June 30, medical marijuana patient applications will be made available on the Arkansas Department of Health website.
Despite the current absence of any licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Arkansas, the state plans on taking applications in preparation for next year. Once Arkansas’s medical marijuana dispensaries are up and operational – anticipated to take place in early 2018 – the state will begin issuing their Arkansas medical marijuana cards.
Applicants will be charged a nonrefundable $50 fee and will need to provide a valid Arkansas driver’s license or other state-issued identification.
Per the ADH: “The cards must be renewed at least annually, so waiting until the product is available for legal purchase to issue the cards ensures the patient can use the card the maximum amount of time before it has to be renewed. Cards may be subject to a shorter renewal time if specified by the patient’s doctor.”
Planting the seeds of medical marijuana south of the Mason-Dixon line, the Arkansas Gen. Assembly adopted legislation this year that mandates the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission began accepting applications for medical marijuana licenses no later than July 1.
