Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Last week, the Arkansas Department of Health started accepting applications for medical marijuana registry identification cards. These cards will be issued to qualifying patients and caregivers 30 days before the state allows dispensaries to open, which will likely occur early next year. Some patients who would qualify for medical marijuana have not applied, however, out of concern that their social security benefits would be cut if they began to use medical cannabis.
Darlene Williams, an Arkansan who is suffering from chronic pain, said that she found a doctor who would prescribe her medical cannabis to manage the symptoms of her pain. Williams currently takes five pharmaceutical medications daily, and medical cannabis could provide a safer alternative to some of these. But Williams is concerned that her social security disability benefits will be cancelled if she starts to use the federally prohibited medicine.
Many other Arkansas have also voiced their concerns over losing benefits due to medical marijuana use, but according to Social Security Administration Public Affairs spokesperson Sarah-Schultz Lackey, most social security recipients have nothing to worry about. …
