(Photo Credit - Nick Youngson)

Great news for qualifying medical marijuana patients in Arkansas: it's time to begin enrolling in the state's program. Both patients as well as caregivers can now begin enrolling in Arkansas' medical marijuana program. While the enrollment process has begun, medical marijuana cards will not be available yet.

Patients Can Begin Enrollment in Arkansas' MMJ Program

Those qualified to enroll can head on over to the Arkansas Department of Health's online portal to apply. If online applications aren't your thing, you can also mail it in to 4815 W. Markham St., Slot 50 Little Rock, AR 72205.

As mentioned above, potential patients can begin the enrollment process now, however their actual medical marijuana identification cards "will not be issues until 30 days before medical cannabis actually becomes available from dispensaries for purchase," Marijuana Policy Project's Maggie Ellinger-Locke reported. According to her e-mail, "the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission estimates that dispensaries should be open by the end of the year or early 2018."

What Do I Need to Begin Enrollment?

Those who are qualified to enroll need a few things in order to be approved as a patient in the Arkansas medical marijuana program:

Completed Physician Written Certification written within 30 days of application

Photocopy of your Arkansas issued driver's license or state ID (remember: name and address must match what is listed on your Arkansas driver's license or ID)

Nonrefundable $50 application fee

Military & National Guard Members Need Not Apply...

Due to an amendment to the Arkansas medical marijuana program by the state legislatures, members of the Arkansas National Guard and the U.S. military are not currently permitted to enroll in the program as either patients or caregivers. We find this rule to be ridiculous, and would expect to see some backlash from the Arkansas military community.

According to the Arkansas National Guard's 2016 Year in Review video, there were over 1,500 Arkansas Gaurdsman deployed oversees for a variety of missions. This is just a small percentage of the guardsman and military members in Arkansas that are not eligible to be patients or caregivers.

Conclusion

Despite the military and guard members that are ineligible for the state's medical marijuana program, a report from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement showed that there are still over 540,000 estimated Arkansans that would be eligible to enroll.

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