Local Lawmakers Oppose Medical Marijuana

Many Arkansans find themselves on the fence when it comes to legalizing marijuana. But former Drug Enforcement Agent Steve Lowry has lived in states where marijuana is already legal.

"What we found was a lot of confusion in the minds of the average public in that they thought once it was passed under state law that they were okay under federal and state," Lowry said.

Leading these law makers to believe we won't have the man power to regulate the drug.

"We're a rural state and there is not going to be that kind of oversight to who's out there growing marijuana," Republican State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe said.

Growing it, not just using it. If issue 5 passes, 30 dispensaries would be scattered throughout the state. If you live more than 5 miles from one, you could legally grow it yourself.

"I still think that it needs to be controlled. That it needs to be with a doctors prescription, taking it to a pharmacist and I think that's the best way to control something like that," Bledsoe said.

Which is where the drug Marinol comes in. Doctors describe it as synthetic marijuana in pill form and is claimed to do the same thing pot does.

"Marinol is made in a laboratory. You have strict dosage units, you've got strength, you've got purity, you've got regularity and control in the manufacturing of it so when you take Marinol you know exactly what you're taking," Lowry said.

The issue states that if a patient has pain, nausea or muscle spasms, a doctor could legally write a note allowing them to use marijuana. A term too broad for the senator.

"If this was really a wonderful thing for those who are suffering and in pain, I'm sure that the American Medical Society would be for it and so would the American Cancer Society and they're not," Bledsoe said.