Arkansas medical cannabis cultivator plans to start growing in February

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The medical marijuana program in Arkansas – stymied by legal challenges and licensing delays – could have a cultivation facility growing and supplying marijuana in early 2019.

State regulators said they plan to launch the program then, but retail licenses haven’t been awarded yet.

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission outsourced the review of dispensary license applications to Boston-based Public Consulting Group in August.

Construction of a grow owned by Natural State Wellness Enterprises could be complete in February, a Harvest Inc. executive told Talk Business & Politics, a news website focused on Arkansas.

Harvest, an Arizona-based multistate MMJ company, owns a stake in Natural State Wellness Enterprises, one of five licensed cultivators in Arkansas.

Once construction of the Arkansas facility is complete, sales of some of the company’s 120 strains could start five months after, Ben Kimbro, an Oklahoma politician and director of public affairs for Harvest, told the website.