After passing restrictive medical marijuana legislation late last year, Arkansas’ Department of Finance and Administration has already signed up over 500 residents hoping to treat a number of serious illnesses with the all-natural herb, but until this week, no one had even submitted an application to either grow or sell the still federally scheduled plant.
This week though, state officials received two applications from prospective dispensary owners trying to fill the gap. According to Northwest Arkansas News, the state will not release any information about the applicants until the submission deadline passes next month.
If the applications are accepted, Arkansas would have the framework for patients to buy and dispensaries to sell medical cannabis, but without any applications from the cultivation side of the industry, the dispensaries and patients could both be entirely out of luck.
State officials hope to kick off the medical marijuana program sometime next year. But with only two applicants vying for dispensary licenses (out of a possible 32 available licenses), and zero cultivation license applications (with 5 of them up for grabs) having been submitted with the September 18th deadline rapidly approaching, things are not looking good for medical marijuana in the Arkansas.
