Lawmakers hear report on medical marijuana tracking

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT) - Arkansas lawmakers received a report Thursday about work being done to improve the tracking of medical marijuana in the state from the point of production to the point of sale.

The Arkansas Legislative Council’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Subcommittee met to discuss the issue and heard from several people about the process. The state currently uses a Florida-based company, BioTrack, to help with the process.

The state created the Arkansas State Traceability Enforcement Monitoring System, or ARSTEMS, to require any licensee to report activity involving the production, transportation, and sale of medical marijuana, the system’s website noted.

At the meeting, officials said there were about 65 issues brought to the attention of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division in recent months. Of those, 41 have been completed, with the remaining being addressed.

Lawmakers were told company officials expect the remaining problems to be solved within 90 days.

Lawmakers were also told that right now, there appear to be no problems with infrastructure or IT concerns with the website.