Dispensaries for Medical Marijuana Approved in Arkansas

ARKANSAS — In a unanimous vote, the Medical Marijuana Commission approved the scores for 200 dispensaries in Arkansas, Wednesday evening.

The Arkansas Department of Health will issue identification cards to more than 6700 patients in February. Rejected applicant, Baraon Crane, who wanted his “New Leaf Cannabis Company to land in Harrison or Eureka Springs, has filed a protest letter with The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement Division, over what he says is a scoring issue.

“Believe me, we’ve been waiting a long time,” said Crane, “We don’t want any more delays, but this needs to be done right and safely.”

Crane says they did a statistical analysis on the scores and found that the consultants actually gave the same score in certain sections on 180 of the 200 applications.

“Wouldn’t you want the safest applicants and the applicants with the best experience? This just means that they got overwhelmed and started copying their scores down,” Crane said.

The company hired to score the applications, Public Consulting Group, told the commission that their quality assurance was conducted and no errors in the scoring turned up.

There could be some good news for another local applicant. Dr. Dan Bell, whose Eureka Springs dispensary ranked number five. Some of the top four applicants from each zone, that ranked in multiple zones, can only get one license.

“If one of the two above us, decides to move to another zone, I think there’s a chance that one might. But you never know,” said Dr. Bell, “They may perceive Fayetteville as one of the sweet spots in the state and may not choose to move. So, we acknowledge that.”

“We’ve already got a good design for our grow and for our clinic that’s set up..so.”

Cultivators told the commission that they should have the product ready in April.

Applicants will have to pay fees before they can officially start business.