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Arkansas patients must wait longer for medical marijuana

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Association attorney Alex Gray claims patients could be waiting another year or two for the drug to be available.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - It's been nearly a year and a half since Arkansas voters legalized medical marijuana, but the drug is far from actually being legal in the state.

The process is at a standstill after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen declared the Medical Marijuana Commission's scores for cultivation applicants "null and void," claiming they didn't score the 95 applicants to grow marijuana fairly.

"I’m just sitting here in pain, waiting," said Laree Treece who suffers from fibromyalgia.

Treece is one of thousands of patients who have been patiently waiting for medical marijuana since Arkansas voters legalized it in November 2016.

At that time, we were told the drug would be available by now.

"This is just going to prolong it. I wanted to be able to maybe perhaps go back to work," said Treece.

Already, 4,567 patients have been approved for a registry ID card through the Arkansas Health Department, all with at least 1-of-17 qualifying conditions, including cancer, AIDS, Crohn's and Alzheimer's.

"I originally thought we would at least have the five grow centers up and running by now," said Treece.

The entire process is at a halt since Judge Griffen ruled the commission didn't follow its rules when scoring applicants, like making sure the facilities were at least 3,000 feet from a school church or daycare.

“If they’d done it right to begin with, we might have someone growing for us now, but it wasn’t handled right from the get go," said Treece.

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Association attorney Alex Gray claims patients could be waiting another year or two for the drug to be available.

"I have a friend now who just found out he has leukemia again. He will never be able to try this to see if it could help put his leukemia in remission now," said Treece.

Patients can only use medical marijuana that’s grown and processed in the state.

"Some are getting it illegally and some are going to other states and bringing it back home, which is still illegal. If they get caught with it, it’s still illegal because we don’t have our program running," said Treece.

What happens next is up to the Attorney General’s Office, which can decide to appeal the decision or not. As of the afternoon of March 21 they were still reviewing the order.

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