Marijuana Used as A Prescription
Medicinal marijuana is about to take center stage in Arkansas. Volunteers and supporters want to get enough signatures to put the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act on the November ballot.
The Legalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes remains a heated debate. Currently eight states have laws supporting the use of Medical Marijuana. The Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana says this initiative gives doctors another tool to help sick patients when other medical options have failed.
Former State Senator John Riggs supports the act and says, "this is one way to relieve people who are suffering from sever pain." The act says any person with a "debilitating medical condition" and a physician's written certification can then register with the Arkansas Department of Health. If given permission, that patient is allowed to possess six marijuana plants and one ounce of usable marijuana.
Some of the conditions listed in the act that a doctor can recommend marijuana for are Cancer, Glaucoma and Aids. However it also says you can get a recommendation to use marijuana for a "medical condition, that produces sever pain," and that had some residents worried.
One Arkansas resident said it might open the door to abuse. However Riggs says, "what the act does say is that a doctor has to be the one who recommends this. It would be no different than what goes on now.
A doctor can recommends a prescription if someone is sick or in pain. But another person we talked to said, "i don't think the medical profession can regulate it to the point that there won't be abuse. I'm totally against it. I would shutter to think what would happen."
Riggs said he is confident Arkansas voters will pass it.
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