Five Arkansas companies with permits to grow medical cannabis are suing to stop three more cultivation licenses from being issued.
The lawsuit claims the three licenses that were issued in June violate language in the law that stipulated new licenses would be granted only if the existing growers couldn’t meet dispensary demand, according to the Arkansas Times.
- The Arkansas Finance and Administration Department.
- The state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.
- The Medical Marijuana Commission.
- The three new cultivation licensees: Carpenter Farms Medical Group, New Day Cultivation and River Valley Relief Cultivation.
State regulators were allowed to issue up to eight cultivation licenses under the 2016 law that legalized MMJ in Arkansas.
They can’t keep up with demand. If there is only 5 as of right now and the state is allowed 8….whar am I missing here?? The current growers sound greedy to me… Lines always and always running out and over prices as is……. So allow more to join the market. Gm
It makes sense from the cultivators’ perspective. The state required them to issue $1 million in bonds and have $500,000 in liquidity just to be able to farm the plant. If they borrowed to get that, now their projected revenue will be impacted by 3 new licensees.
Ultimately, the problem lies with the commission only allowing so few cultivators in the first place. It’s a closed market where the state gets to select those who are allowed to participate from among those who can pay to play.
I don’t know the level of quality or what standards the commission has set for these 8 growing outfits, but they’re undoubtedly preventing some of the best product from reaching the market and benefiting patients.
Hopefully in the future more farmers will be allowed to participate and the commission will shift its focus to quality of medicine instead of state revenue and monoculture.
There is blatant greed and gerrymandering happening in Arkansas right now. Will someone cover this nationwide so AR can stop taking advantage of its citizens?