Arkansas Medical Marijuana: September Update
David Couch, the lawyer who authored Issue 7, the constitutional amendment that passed in the November 2017 election, doesn't believe there is anything to be worried about. "There's no incentive to turn in an application early," Couch said. It makes sense to not get in a rush, and make sure all T's are crossed and all I's are dotted.
However, as the September 18th deadline approaches many applicants seem to have completed their applications and submissions have started. Wednesday, August 30th was the busiest day of application submission since the commission began accepting applications on June 30th.
The fee to file an application to operate a marijuana dispensary or cultivation facility in Arkansas totals $15000.
Proof of assets or a surety bond in the amount of $1 million and proof of at least $500,000 in liquid assets is also a requirement. There has been much discussion on the financial requirements of applying, from both sides of the spectrum. From complaints about how the ordinary man is now excluded from applying due to the cost to justifications for the fees due to the finances it requires to operate a successful operation in a state that wants to be successful from the start by having product available asap.
Arkansas is split into 8 geographic zones for regulation of the medical marijuana industry (you can see those zones here). Some industry officials have estimated that 20,000 to 40,000 people in Arkansas will apply for medical marijuana. As of September 1st, 2017, according the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association, 863 patients have been approved through the Arkansas Department of Health, with 1006 in progress. This is a long way from the estimated numbers, but without dispensary and cultivation application approval, and an estimated wait until the end of 2017, prospective applicants aren't in a rush.
I will be updating steemians on the state of Arkansas Medical Marijuana in the coming weeks. With the application deadline fast approaching, things are about to get busy.
Sources:
Arkansas Times - Meaningless news: number of applications so far submitted to grow or sell medical marijuana
Talk Business and Politics - Medical marijuana business applications see end-of-the-month surge
Good story...yet in America booze is legal ...in comparison I think marijuana is not nearly as bad. With the fees. proof of assets etc. being so high ...and still applications coming in it's a win win for the state wonder who or how they came up with that amount....thanks for sharing definitely following :)
I agree. Booze is way more dangerous, but legal in most places. And corner stores can sell it all day long. People die from alcohol-related problems all the time. Destroys the liver. Creates dependence. All these things. And yet cannabis has never killed anyone. Ever. I think people have been misled for a long time, and it is now ingrained into many peoples attitudes that it is bad, and they don't want to hear or see anything else because they already know everything they need to. I was on that bandwagon at one time. My eyes were opened.
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission came up with the amounts. I think they are doing it to better the chances of success in a short amount of time. To create grow operations and dispensaries, with all the regulations, is going to take money, whether people like it or not. And now we have a whole state depending on the people that get approved. I have no problem with a mom and pop grow operation. However, are they going to be able to get their operation, currently still illegal, robust enough in a few months to start supplying entire regions with product? I doubt it. I don't see fees being reduced until recreational becomes legal. Then it will be way more common, and smaller operations will start to pop up.
Marijuana is still illegal in my country but we hope in the years to come it will be acceptable to use marijuana and hopefully decriminalization and legalization
:)
@doushoum Marijana is still technically illegal in the United States. The federal government classifies it as Schedule 1, the most dangerous and addictive drugs out there with no medicinal value, while simultaneously holding a patent on cannabis for it's therapeutic properties. Over half the country has legalized cannabis in one form or another, so the people are standing up to a government that is still trying to enforce prohibition. I see the future of cannabis in this country changing from the mindset we have seen over the last 50 years.
Great stuff.. it is going into legalization
Yes it is. I wouldn't be a bit surprised, especially with the legalization votes in the last election, to see more states, including Arkansas, move forward with full legalization.
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