It's been more than two years since Arkansas voters approved the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana.
And yet not one plant is being legally grown. Not one dispensary is open.
Five cultivator licenses have been granted, but none is currently producing. Indeed, only three of the companies holding licenses have started construction on facilities to grow the plant.
And until they are up and running, no one with a medical marijuana card will be getting any use out of it.
Contrast that to nearby Oklahoma. Voters went to the polls just this summer and gave their OK to medical marijuana. Already there are growers growing and dispensaries selling.
This has many Arkansans wondering just what's going on. Why is it taking so long in the Natural State while the Sooners got things up and running so fast?
The reason is the wording of the bills voters were asked to consider. The Arkansas bill provided for much stricter regulation and control of growing and dispensing medical marijuana than did the one in Oklahoma.
The Arkansas law-slow and frustrating as it may be for some-actually provides for a much more stable industry. For example, Oklahoma's law doesn't provide the infrastructure for rigid investigation of potential growers and sellers. And Arkansas requires marijuana sold for medical purposes to be tested for potency and possible contaminants. No testing is required in Oklahoma. Oklahoma's law has created something of a "wild west" atmosphere in the pot trade. More than 1,800 growers and dispensaries have been licensed already with little real oversight. And that could lead to big problems down the road.
We were against medical marijuana in Arkansas. We still are. But the voters gave their OK and it's a fact of life. We are happy, though, to see that if it must be done, it is not being rushed.