As medical marijuana sales begin in Arkansas, there’s no shortage of questions and fallacies related to the industry.
“I think there may be a misconception that there’s a required date that every dispensary opens across the state or that all 32 open today, and that’s certainly not the case,” DFA spokesperson Scott Hardin said on Saturday.
By Monday, two of Arkansas’s 32 licensed cannabis dispensaries will be open for business.
“The timeline is not driven by the state,” Hardin said. “The timeline is up to each individual dispensary. At ABC, we’re waiting on these dispensaries to call us and say ‘please come look at my dispensary, inspect it,’ and we’re ready to go.”
The first two operating dispensaries -- Doctor’s Orders and Green Springs Medical – are both located in Hot Springs.
“We’re hearing from people in northeast and northwest Arkansas saying: ‘What’s so special about Hot Springs? Why are you not allowing my dispensaries to open?’ Again, that’s not our decision. It’s a coincidence the first two happen to be in Hot Springs,” Hardin said.
While construction is yet to begin on some dispensaries, Hardin said others are very close to completion. He believes as many as 10 could be open and selling cannabis by the end of June.
“I think these first couple of weeks you will see Arkansans driving 2, 3 hours to Hot Springs to obtain it,” Hardin said. “Hopefully, past that we don’t have to see much of that though.”
Hardin says questions about the status of a particular dispensary should be directed to the facility's owner.