The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission decided Tuesday to allow 32 dispensaries that will be evenly distributed among the state's four congressional districts.
The voter-approved Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment allows the commission to authorize between 20 and 40 dispensaries to sell medical marijuana to patients on the orders of their doctors.
"Opening it up for more people in the beginning will let people know that there's an opportunity for them to be part of this business," said the commission chairman, Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman.
The commission is in charge of setting rules and fees for both cultivation centers and dispensaries. The constitutional amendment allows dispensaries to have up to 50 mature plants. The main source of medical marijuana in the state will be growers -- called cultivation facilities -- that are expected to grow thousands of plants.
Commissioners decided to charge dispensaries that choose not to grow medical marijuana a $2,500 initial license fee, followed by a $10,000 yearly fee.
Dispensaries also will be charged a $7,500 application fee. As with cultivation facilities, unsuccessful applicants will receive half the fee back.
"We should make that cheaper because that way people who don't have a million dollars in the bank can get into this thing," said Dr. Carlos Roman, a commissioner. "There's a lot more economic opportunity for more people with less money."
Commissioners also authorized higher fees on dispensaries that choose to grow medical marijuana and the panel talked of increased regulations for those businesses.
The dispensaries that grow their own plants are a bridge between dispensaries and growers, said Commissioner Travis W. Story.
"I don't know that we can change that, but we can incentivize them not to [grow]," he said of the dispensaries.
The commission decided that dispensaries growing medical marijuana would be charged a $25,000 license fee, followed by a $32,500 annual fee.
That vote was taken after Commissioner James Miller said the commission may want to delay because of talk among lawmakers of changing the constitutional amendment to disallow dispensaries to grow any medical marijuana.
Miller is the former chief of staff of Senate President Pro-Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy.
The amendment allows lawmakers to modify most of its requirements with a two-thirds vote. A bill had not been filed on the matter as of Tuesday evening.
David Couch, the Little Rock-based lawyer who sponsored the amendment, said he included language to allow dispensaries to grow up to 50 mature plants because there are more than 400 strains of marijuana.
"It was to permit a dispensary to grow a strain that may not be as common in order to distinguish itself and to meet needs of some patients -- something a cultivator might not grow in quantity," he said.
On Tuesday, the commission also voted to require cultivation facilities to post a $500,000 cash or surety bond that would be paid if a licensed facility fails before it opens. The proceeds would reimburse the state for "cleanup costs."
The requirement does not apply to dispensaries.
Last week, the commission decided that cultivation facilities would have to pay an annual $100,000 fee to operate and applicants would be required to have a $1 million bond or assets worth $1 million and be able to show $500,000 in cash liquidity.
The week before, the commission decided that would-be cultivators would be required to pay a $15,000 application fee, with half refunded if the application were rejected.
Created by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment passed by voters in November, the commission must develop the rules through which Arkansans can begin applying for cultivation and dispensary licenses by June 2017. A bill to extend the deadline is on the agenda for the House Rules Committee meeting at noon today.
Unless lawmakers extend the deadline, the commission needs to have a final draft of regulations completed by Jan. 23 to meet public notice, legislative review and other requirements, said Mary Robin Casteel, staff attorney for the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control agency.
Metro on 01/11/2017