Arkansas doctors won't need to certify value of medical pot

(AP) – Doctors prescribing medical marijuana won’t have to

tell Arkansas regulators that the benefits of marijuana outweigh the risks for

their patients.

The Arkansas Senate gave final approval Monday to a bill that says doctors

don’t need to determine whether marijuana might be a better medicine for people

with certain medical conditions. Gov. Asa Hutchinson later signed the bill.

Much of Monday’s debate centered on whether legislators sworn to uphold the

U.S. Constitution could make decisions running counter to federal law. While

Arkansas voters have OK’d marijuana use by people with certain medical

conditions, federal law says otherwise.

Legislators previously said agencies had until May to set rules for the

program. They had been due in March under a constitutional amendment voters

approved in November. Hutchinson signed that bill, too.

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