The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission has had a change of heart.
Instead of picking MMJ business winners and losers by random through a lottery, the commission will instead use a merit-based scoring system to award dispensary and cultivation permits.
The change was made to a draft regulation after pushback from stakeholders at a public hearing, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. In other states, lottery permitting systems have commonly resulted in lawsuits, though markets with a merit-based approach have also seen legal action as well.
The commission also made other changes to proposed industry rules, including lowering license fees for dispensaries that don’t plan to grow their own cannabis, and increased a residency requirement to mandate that at least 60% of MMJ companies be owned by Arkansans.
