Medical marijuana patients in Arkansas purchased nearly $23 million worth of marijuana and marijuana products in July.
According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), there was $22.9 million in marijuana sold legally in July via 37 medical marijuana dispensaries. This is nearly identical to the $22.8 million sold in April and the $22.9 million sold in May, and an uptick from the $21.7 million sold in June.
The year-to-date total for medical marijuana sales in Arkansas is now $158 million, putting the stop on track to easily top a quarter of a billion dollars by the end of the year. In total, there are around 105,000 medical marijuana patients in the state.
According to the DFA, there was approximately 42,000 pounds of medical marijuana sold during the first seven months of the year, considerably more than the 34,000 sold during the same point last year.
“Since the first dispensary opened in 2019, Arkansans have spent approximately $1.2 billion on medical marijuana purchases,” said DFA spokesperson Scott Hardin. “Although the overall spend has decreased since last year, we continue to see pounds sold increase, indicating lower prices.”
These sales figures could be even higher come next year, if Arkansans for Patient Access is successful in getting their medical marijauna expansion measure approved this November. The initiative would expand the state’s medical marijuana law, passed in 2016, to allow patients to grow their own marijuana at a private residence, with the limit set at seven mature plants and seven immature plants, and it would remove the retail prohibition on certain smokeable marijuana products such as pre-rolls.
The initiative would also:
- Allow medical marijuana assessments and renewals to be conducted via telehealth.
- Allow out-of-state patients to receive protections under the state’s medical marijuana law.
- Expand new patient cards to last three years rather than one.
- Allow physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists to recommend medical marijuana in addition to physicians.
- Allow the above list of healthcare professions to recommend medical marijuana for any condition they deem appropriate, rather than having to follow the current list of qualifying conditions.
