Medical marijuana industry in Arkansas here to stay

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Medical marijuana in Arkansas arrived in fits and starts. 

Then once it started being sold, it fits the old advertising tag line used to sell tobacco cigarettes 50 years ago: “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

There are tight restrictions built into the constitutional amendment that allowed medical marijuana in November 2016. Despite those constraints, there are more than 80,000 cardholders in the state.

Another way to look at the evolving attitudes comes through quotes from the last two surgeons general in Arkansas.

“There hasn’t been research done that proves marijuana helps these illnesses,” said Dr. Greg Bledsoe in 2019 before a legislative panel considering expanding medical conditions eligible for the drug. 

“There has been a lot of research that shows we are inducing harm in patients by giving them marijuana.”

The previous surgeon general is now leading more research.

“I think medical marijuana in a non smoke-able form has potential benefits and potential risks,” said Dr. Joe Thompson, now the head of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. 

“I think that’s an open question.”

Open questions, but no apparent hesitations to get open for business, if the recent marijuana industry expo held at the antique adorned Albert Pike Masonic Center.

“When this passed back in November of 2016, I doubt anyone could have guessed that there would be this much revenue flowing through each dispensary that, that we’d see Arkansan spending what’s now going to be close to probably $600 million here in the next couple of months,” said Scott Hardin, the spokesperson for the state medical marijuana commission.

The roller coaster ride to get the industry off the ground is part of why many would have doubted six years ago. 

Through courtrooms and hearing rooms Arkansas managed to hand out a handful of cultivation licenses and let more than three dozen shopkeepers sell legal cannabis products. And they’re doing it the Arkansas way.

“Amendment 98 … requires if someone wants to own a dispensary or cultivation facility here in Arkansas, that 60% of the ownership remain in Arkansas,” said Hardin.

Since the state passed that law, the spirit of it is alive and well in the industry three years after the first sale.

“We’re all Arkansans,” said Cesar Mendoza, a co-owner of Ouachita Farms. “It’s a combination of four brothers and myself that are owners of the company.”

Mendoza and company CEO Sara Owen gamely answered Arkansas trivia questions to prove their Natural State bona fides. The company has three separate licenses backing its operation in Texarkana. 

They produce and grow products and distribute them across the region.

“I didn’t know anything about the industry. We had a lot to learn,” said Jay Trulove, the owner of Osage Creek Cultivation and Dispensary based in Berryville. 

He went from objecting to marijuana while working as an airline pilot to investing in the industry after hearing stories from people relieving cancer and multiple sclerosis with the drug.

“I started doing my own research and open my mind just a little bit,” he said. 

“It’s a medicine. It’s a drug and it needs to be treated like a drug. So now I’m a huge supporter obviously invested a lot of money a lot of time.”

Ouachita Farm’s diversification of products and Trulove’s adjustment are signs of where the business may be headed next.

“There is a whole new economy amongst us right now,” said Eddie Armstrong, the former state representative now leading one of five petition drives looking to make cannabis legal for all adults.

“It would behoove us to start getting engaged. From transporting to dispensing, to processing, to finding new ways for blockchain technology to be incorporated into it,” he said. 

“This is much bigger than just growing it and or selling it at retail, and we have to begin to think that way here in Arkansas.”

Signatures are due in about four months. The election will be in eight months.

Researchers and health experts like Dr. Thompson are trying to keep up, but considering how far we’ve come, baby, it’s hard to tell how much will change when it comes to marijuana.

“We’ll be trying to provide information as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Thompson.  “It’ll take us a while to actually get the data together, do the analytics and understand what we find.”