Talk Business & Politics Daily Digital: The more on medical marijuana edition
by July 8, 2016 3:09 pm 243 views
In Friday’s Talk Business & Politics Daily, we preview Sunday’s exclusive interview with Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The governor urged caution and prudence in response to the police killings in Minnesota and Louisiana and the attacks on 5 Dallas law enforcement officers.
“Most importantly, we need to make sure that we talk with reason and discipline as we discuss these matters. Leaders should not be encouraging and dramatizing the response beyond what it should be. The key thing here is our commitment to the rule of law,” he said.
Read more of his comments at this link as well as a preview of our weekend TV show.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
In addition to Arkansans for Compassionate Care, a second medical marijuana proposal has turned in petitions to be on the November ballot.
Led by attorney David Couch, supporters of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment submitted an estimated 106,268 signatures on 17,819 pages Friday, but the sponsor believes the group will have to collect more signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The amendment authorizes the state to create up to 40 for-profit dispensaries and eight cultivation facilities, with the Department of Health maintaining a patient database to regulate who receives the drug, and how much. The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Commission would inspect the dispensaries and cultivation facilities. Sales tax revenues would cover the cost of regulation. Excess funds would be deposited into the state’s general revenue funds and would fund workforce skills training.
Read more on the two proposals’ differences here.
Also, State Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe weighed in on the topic of medical marijuana. He’s opposed to it.
“It’s very difficult,” Bledsoe said. “What concerns me is that a lot of the discussion is not centered on very accurate information. A lot of the research that’s been done on medical marijuana doesn’t show that it’s effective except in very narrow cases of certain types of chronic pain.”
Watch his full Talk Business & Politics Daily interview here on this subject and others, including telemedicine, the Private Option/Arkansas Works and opiod abuse.