Arkansas will wait until early next year to award the first dispensary licenses, the state’s Medical Marijuana Commission announced.
Here’s what you need to know:
- The panel had planned to meet this week to announce the dispensary scores, but on Tuesday it pushed back that meeting until Jan. 9 to allow newly appointed commissioners time to be briefed on the issues. Earlier this month, a member of the state’s MMJ commission resigned, leaving only two commissioners to oversee the program.
- In August, the commission hired a Boston-based consultant to grade the more than 200 applications for the state’s first dispensaries.
- The rollout of the Arkansas MMJ market has been plagued by delays, including legal hang-ups and licensing hiccups.
Under the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2016, Arkansas can license no more than 32 dispensaries to sell medical marijuana.
The commission in July awarded five licenses for businesses to grow medical marijuana, and some product is expected to be ready for store shelves by April.
– Associated Press and Marijuana Business Daily
