A member of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission, Dr. J. Carlos Roman, is frustrated.
The anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist accepted a voluntary appointment to the commission to help oversee the licensing of Arkansas' first medical cannabis growing and dispensing facilities, and in exchange, his name and reputation have been dragged through the mud into the middle of a legal fight between the state and several disgruntled growing-permit applicants, Roman said Friday.
"Blatant lies," he said.
In court documents, several companies that applied but failed to obtain licenses to grow the drug have accused Roman of having a conflict of interest with Natural State Medicinals Cultivation -- the company he scored the highest. Those complaints suggested that personal and professional ties between Roman and Dr. Scott Schlesinger, one of Natural State Medicinals Cultivation's owners, influenced Roman's scoring.
[DOCUMENT: Read the judge’s full order]
Roman acknowledged that Schlesinger is a friend, but he said he wasn't aware Schlesinger had applied for a permit when he graded the application, and to suggest there might have been any impropriety is "the most insulting thing to me professionally and personally," Roman said.
At the urging of Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration staff members, the five members of the Medical Marijuana Commission haven't spoken publicly about the cultivation-license process outside of commission meetings since receiving the first applications in December. In the past month, the commission has been sued five times and accused of a variety of missteps during the scoring process.
Roman sat down Friday for a wide-ranging interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He requested the interview because the allegations against him, which he said were "slanderous," have affected his patient and business relationships, and he fears they may soon be used to try to discredit his community service work to fight the opiate crisis.
Roman of Little Rock was appointed to the commission by state Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy.
The doctor didn't hold back in his criticisms of Naturalis Health LLC, the company that first accused Roman of bias, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, and several other applicants for the cultivation licenses.
Roman said he agreed to serve on the commission because he felt well-positioned to ensure the medical-marijuana industry gets off the ground responsibly. He sees similarities between the medical-cannabis industry, tobacco companies and opiate manufacturers.
For the better half of the past two decades, Roman, who is the chairman of the state Medical Board's pain-management review committee, has pushed back against the overprescribing of painkillers. He wants to ensure medical marijuana doesn't follow a similar path, and that companies put patients over profits.
"That's why I'm on this commission," Roman said. "Not to make money for myself or my friends.
"I don't give a c*** who gets the licenses."
Naturalis -- the 38th-ranked cannabis-cultivation applicant -- sued the commission on March 13. In its complaint, the company, whose managing member is Jackson T. "J.T." Stephens III -- the son of millionaire businessman Jackson T. "Steve" Stephens Jr. -- argued that the application and scoring process had several flaws, including conflicts of interest for both Roman and commission member Travis Story.
[DOCUMENTS: Read complaints filed + winning applications from top five growers]
Specifically, the complaint noted that Roman scored Natural State Medicinals Cultivation much higher than other companies.
Griffen, who presides over the case, granted Naturalis' request for a preliminary injunction, saying that Roman's and Story's relationships with applicants created the "appearance of bias."
Roman said Friday that Naturalis and Griffen ignored several key factors. First, he pointed out that each commission member gave Natural State Medicinals Cultivation among their highest scores.
"They didn't need any favors," Roman said. "They had the best application."
Second, he took issue with Naturalis and Griffen noting that he scored Natural State Medicinals Cultivation's proposal more than 30 points higher than the average score he assigned to other applications. Those calculations, Roman said, failed to consider that finance department staff members determined whether each company met the criteria to receive up to 10 bonus points for factors like moving into a poor county, ownership diversity and community benefits.
For example, Roman said he could have scored two groups the same, but their final scores could be 10 points apart if finance department aides determined one met the requirements for bonus points and the other didn't.
"It blows my mind that a judge, a lawyer, could put this trash out," he said, holding up Griffen's order, which Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Griffen and an attorney for Naturalis couldn't be reached Friday for comment.
Roman, whose clinic employs about 100 people, also said his business has 401(k) plans with Stephens Inc. The company was founded by J.T. Stephens' grandfather, and his uncle, Warren Stephens, is the current chairman, president and CEO.
"I guess I had a conflict of interest with Stephens and Naturalis then," Roman said, adding that he may reconsider his business with Stephens.
Roman's scores do stand out when compared with other commission members' evaluations. The four other members routinely assigned scores over 90, but Roman scored only two companies 90 or above.
He explained that he considered only a select few applicants "extremely qualified," according to the grading rubric given to each commissioner by the finance department.
"A 60-55 from me was a pretty good score," he said. "And 70-90 was 'extremely' good."
Roman opposed Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution that Arkansans approved in 2016 to legalize medical marijuana. It's not that he's totally against the drug; he said he opposes the "ignorance" and false information some spread about it. Some proponents tend to downplay some of the risks associated with medical cannabis, he added.
Roman said he supports the decriminalization of marijuana. Similar to alcohol or tobacco, he said people shouldn't be jailed if they choose to use it in the privacy of their own homes.
As medicine, medical cannabis has a few benefits, namely appetite stimulation and anti-anxiety, and Roman said he plans to reluctantly certify patients to receive registry identification cards to buy the drug once it's available. He does fear that many users of medical marijuana will simply be recreational users who find a doctor willing to certify that they have one of the 18 qualifying conditions as required by the amendment.
He hopes to raise public awareness that people should remain wary of the budding industry.
"What are we going to do as a state and culture to make sure medical marijuana doesn't become the next opiate crisis?" he asked.
As for the legal entanglements he and the commission face, Roman said he'd welcome a financial audit.
"They can look at all my stuff," he said. "I don't have anything to hide."
A Section on 03/31/2018