Some Arkansans still fear getting a medical marijuana I.D. card could impact their social security benefits. Arkansas is accepting applications for medical marijuana for patients, growers, and distributors. But how will the program work? How will the program affect social security benefits?

Chronic pain has taken a toll on Darlene Williams. "I have knots in my neck and it goes up to my head. I get bad migraines and I have peripheral neuropathy which means my arms and my legs hurt, my feet burn," she said.

The state began accepting applications Friday from those wishing to grow and sell marijuana for medical use, but when the drug might make into the hands of patients is still anyone’s guess.

That will depend on how many apply for a limited number of licenses.

The only piece of the timeline set for the birth of this new industry is Sept. 18. By 4:30 p.m. that day, all dispensary and cultivation applications must be hand-delivered to the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division in Little Rock. Only then will the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission begin reviewing the applications.

Patients, growers, and prospective dispensary owners can apply Friday to state officials in Arkansas to join the state’s brand new medical marijuana program.

Arkansas voters approved medical marijuana in the state last year. Since then the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission (AMMC), under the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration, was established to organize the program and work out its details.

Arkansas officials said they expect 20,000 to 40,000 patients to apply for a medical marijuana registration card. Those cards will cost $50 so even if 30,000 apply, the registration fee will cover the $1.5 million officials have said it will cost to run the marijuana program there.

Medical marijuana dispensaries and growing farms could begin popping up along Missouri's southern border.

Officials with the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission last week finalized details and applications for prospective growers and vendors will become available to the public on June 20.

Under Arkansas law, there can be five cultivation sites statewide; for dispensaries, the state is divided into eight zones that each can have at least four dispensaries, for a total of 32 statewide.

Northwest Arkansas — Benton, Washington, Carroll and Madison counties — is defined as one zone.

Each of those four counties voted to approve medical marijuana in November, as did the state overall, by a vote of 53 percent to 46 percent.

Arkansas officials are anticipating that between 20,000 and 40,000 people will ask for permission to obtain medical marijuana.

The state Health Department’s chief lawyer, Robert Brech, told a joint meeting of the Senate and House Public Health Committee on Monday that running Arkansas’ medical marijuana program will cost about $1.5 million over the next year.

Medical marijuana registration cards will cost about $50. Under the proposed rules, an Arkansas driver’s license or state ID will be required to obtain one.

Arkansas’ population is about 3 million people. According to Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection spokeswoman Lora Rae Anderson, there are 18,232 medical marijuana patients in that state. Connecticut has a population of about 3.6 million.

Arkansas will soon begin taking applications from those who hope to grow and dispense medical marijuana, though the state's strong religious heritage and restrictions imposed by the Legislature will limit where greenhouses and distributors can operate.

Voters last November made Arkansas the first Bible Belt state to legalize medical marijuana, clearing its use by people with certain medical conditions. While setting up rules for licensing, legislators said growers must be at least 3,000 feet from churches, schools or daycares, while dispensaries must be 1,500 feet away. The limits will make it tough for some towns and small cities to host marijuana operations.

The changes medical marijuana brings to Arkansas will likely be less widespread than advocates hope or opponents fear, at least at first, recent history and research suggest.

The voter-approved constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana use will soon fall into place. The state plans to start taking license applications for shops to distribute marijuana products and cultivation facilities in July. The people who qualify to use and possess those products could be able to apply for the necessary state cards even sooner.

The Arkansas Legislative Council leadership set in motion the key players in the state's new medical marijuana law from seed to sale.

The council's approval of emergency rules Wednesday allowed them go into effect Monday at noon as required by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016.

"Everybody knows what the rulebook is, how the game is going to be played," said State Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, who crafted the legislation. 

Hopeful cultivation facility and dispensary owners are obtaining land, equipment and employment options, while doctors consider patient certification and pharmacists question how to dose the drug. 

A slew of bills modifying the state’s nascent medical marijuana program have been signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson over the past two weeks.

One dozen marijuana-related bills recently saw the governor’s pen, and five more currently await his signature. Any bill modifying the voter-approved Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment must be approved two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of the Representatives before it can be signed into law by the governor.

The House on Monday rejected a bill to ban the manufacture or sale of medical marijuana in food or drink.

House Bill 1392 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Springdale, received 52 votes in support and 40 against. Because it would change a voter-approved constitutional amendment, it required a two-thirds vote for passage, or at least 67 votes in the 100-member House.

The bill would allow a patient authorized to use medical marijuana to put the drug in his or her own food, or have it done by an approved caregiver, but dispensaries could not sell the drug in food.