Many Arkansans still have a lot of questions after the Department of Health announced it plans on issuing Medical Marijuana ID cards within the next 30 days.

Many Arkansans still have a lot of questions after the Department of Health announced plans on issuing Medical Marijuana ID cards within the next 30 days.

After a dispensary opened in Oklahoma, close to Fort Smith, one of the most common questions we’ve heard is, "Can I buy medical marijuana in Oklahoma and bring it back to Arkansas?”

The short answer is no.

Although Oklahoma allows out-of-state cardholders to purchase medical marijuana, you can’t legally bring it back to Arkansas. That’s because the Medical Marijuana Amendment only protects medical marijuana sold in Arkansas.

“Across the board the rules contemplate medical marijuana being purchased in Arkansas,” said Medical Marijuana Commission Spokesperson Scott Hardin. “They don’t contemplate crossing state lines to Oklahoma or any other state to purchase it then bring it back.”

Hardin said, if you purchase medical marijuana in a different state and bring it back to Arkansas, you could face drug possession charges, even if you have a medical marijuana ID card.

“It is still illegal on the federal level,” said Hardin. “That is a decision that law enforcement is going to have to make on a case-by-case basis.”

Hardin said the Medical Marijuana Commission could possibly be approving licenses for Arkansas dispensaries during a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 9.

“That may be why the department of health is going ahead and issuing those cards because we are getting really close to licensing those Arkansas dispensaries,” said Hardin.

Steep Hill Arkansas is one of the labs that will be testing medical marijuana before it can be sold to customers.

Owner Brandon Thornton said he advises against buying Medical Marijuana in Oklahoma because you won’t know what you’re getting.

“They don’t have any testing rules,” said Thornton. “That program happened so quickly, the state was not able to actually write testing rules and put those into practice.”

He said that will not be the case in Arkansas.

“Here, patients know they’re going to get clean cannabis and by that, I mean it’s going to be tested for heavy medals, for pesticides for residual solvents. We do microbiology testing, we test for E. coli,” said Thornton.

Thornton said, this testing is crucial.