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by Andrew Mobley
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have allowed dispensaries to deliver medical marijuana via drive-through windows or delivery vehicles. (Photo: KATV)
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have allowed dispensaries to deliver medical marijuana via drive-through windows or delivery vehicles.
"I just got a call yesterday that it was vetoed, or they were going to veto it and I was shocked," said State Rep. Aaron Pilkington, (R) District 45, who sponsored House Bill 1889.
In her veto letter for HB 1889, which barely passed in both chambers of the state legislature, Sanders said the bill would have expanded access to usable marijuana.
Bill sponsors and supporters say that’s not true, that the bill was simply a matter of convenience for many patients.
"We have patients that are extremely disabled that have a very difficult time walking, we have patients that are immunocompromised. Elderly patients—they have a hard time getting around. It would be so much more convenient to be able to drive up to the window," said Melissa Fults, spokesperson for the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association.
"It's not less secure; you still have to have your medical marijuana card, you still have to have your ID. It's ridiculous. It's not going to cause people to use it more. It's not going to cause it to get into somebody's hands that's not supposed to have it," Fults said of the bill.
Sponsors say HB 1889 would have essentially re-established COVID-era protocols that allowed card holders to get medical marijuana curbside.
"A lot of things we saw during COVID worked, there were no issues and they created convenience and helped lower costs," Pilkington said. "I just want to help patients who are wheelchair bound."
Pilkington told KATV he does not support legalizing marijuana for recreation.
HB 1889 would also have allowed visitors without cards to tour dispensaries in the same way they can tour cultivation facilities—after providing IDs and only accompanied by staff. It would also have allowed delivery of medical marijuana to identified patients by one person, where the law currently requires two people in the delivery vehicle.
The bill was just the latest effort by medical marijuana advocates and the cannabis industry to loosen restrictions in Arkansas, which is still coming to grips with how to regulate medical marijuana since it became legal in 2016.
Pilkington previously sponsored HB 1784 (signed into law in 2023) that allowed medical marijuana cardholders to also possess a concealed carry license in the state. However, a ballot measure to allow recreational marijuana was shot down by voters in 2022 and last year, a ballot issue to expand medical marijuana access was shot down by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
"Obviously I think people are still getting used to the fact that we're a medical marijuana state, but it's been almost ten years since we've had it," Pilkington said. "We need to figure out rules and regs that make sense, that help our patients, but at the same time not allow the system to be abused."
"I think we've tried to strike a balance between those that disagree with the constitutional amendment that enabled medical marijuana to entrepreneurs that need to expand and grow their business and make it viable here in Arkansas," said State Sen. Joshua Bryant, (R) District 32, who also sponsored HB 1889.
"I think we'll have that tug of war until the voters choose to do something different," Bryant said.
Bryant told KATV he does not believe there will be enough support in the legislature to override the governor's veto before the session adjourns May 5.
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