Arkansans Buying More Medical Cannabis Ahead of Potential Program Expansion

Despite Arkansans’ ability to drive north and purchase adult-use cannabis at licensed dispensaries in Missouri since February 2023—as long as they’re 21 years or older—the state’s medical patients are still buying more cannabis from their hometown retailers in 2024.

Arkansas patients spent more than $22.9 million on medical cannabis from the state’s 37 licensed dispensaries in July, holding a steady month-to-month sales pattern despite price decreases, according to the state’s Department of Finance and Administration (DFA). This compares to $22.8 million in April sales, $22.9 million in May sales, and $21.7 million in June sales.

There are 105,544 Arkansas residents with active medical cannabis patient cards, or roughly 3.5% of the state’s population, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

Although the $158.5 million in medical cannabis sales through the first seven months of 2024 represent a 3.7% decrease from the $164.6 million in sales during the same period in 2023, dispensaries are selling a greater volume of products this year: 42,602 pounds in 2024 versus 34,214 pounds in 2023—a 24.5% year-over-year increase, according to the DFA.

“Since the first dispensary opened in 2019, Arkansans have spent approximately $1.2 billion on medical marijuana purchases,” DFA spokesperson Scott Hardin said in a media release. “Although the overall spend has decreased since last year, we continue to see pounds sold increase, indicating lower prices.”

Suite 443 in Hot Springs, Ark., a city of roughly 38,000 about 35 miles southwest of Little Rock, led the state with 732 pounds of medical cannabis products sold in July, while Natural Relief Dispensary in Sherwood, a Little Rock suburb, followed with 540 pounds sold, according to the DFA. Suite 443, formerly Doctor’s Orders, was Arkansas’ first dispensary to commence medical cannabis sales in May 2019.

As Arkansas’ medical cannabis retailers were wrapping up their July 2024 sales, the state’s medical cannabis advocates, who are hoping to expand the program, began collecting more signatures to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2024 ballot.

Canvassers with Arkansans for Patient Access, the group sponsoring the initiative, said they submitted 111,402 signatures on July 5 to Secretary of State John Thurston’s office. The required number of valid signatures for constitutional amendments to go before voters in Arkansas is 90,704—including minimums in at least 50 of 75 counties based on total votes cast in the state’s most recent governor’s race.

Thurston notified the group July 31 that his office determined there are “no less than 77,000 valid signatures,” which isn’t enough to qualify for the ballot but enough for a 30-day cure period to allow Arkansans for Patient Access to make up the roughly 13,700-signature difference by Aug. 30, 2024, the Arkansas Advocate reported.

The proposed amendment would expand health care provider eligibility to recommend medical cannabis, expand qualifying conditions, allow home cultivation, reduce medical cannabis card renewal burdens, and update industry regulations for advertising and packaging, among other provisions.