The people of Arkansas spent $23.2 million on medical cannabis in July, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. According to the Department of Finance and Administration, such recent spending is set to surpass the state’s record sales from last year. Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Department of Finance, said July’s sales numbers demonstrate that Arkansas will exceed 2022’s record medical marijuana sales, which reached $270 million.

Arkansas medical marijuana patients spent $164.6 million on cannabis from January to July of 2023, which marks a $7.3 million increase from the first seven months of 2022. That figure accounts for a whopping 5,157 pounds of bud, bringing the year’s total to 34,214.

“If sales remain consistent for the next several months, we will complete 2023 with total sales reaching more than $280 million,” Hardin shared in a news release. “The state collected $2.5 million in tax revenue from medical marijuana in July. This brings total medical marijuana tax revenue in 2023 to $18.5 million, and $108 million since the first dispensary opened in May 2019.”

July came in fifth in 2023 for sales compared with other months, showing that even an impressive $23.2 million isn’t the biggest figure Arkansas can brag about. The highest-earning month of the year is March, which raked in $25 million worth of sales. The state’s lowest earning month of the year still comes in at $22.4 million, Hardin shares. 

However, while sales are up, the tax revenue generated does not necessarily reflect sale numbers. For example, the $18.5 million in tax revenue the state has collected from medical marijuana sales through July 2023 is slightly down from 2022’s figures around this year, which clocked in at $18.7 million.

The highest-earning dispensaries that sold the most medical marijuana were Suite 443 of Hot Springs, selling 551.7 pounds in July, and Natural Relief Dispensary in Sherwood, which sold 462.1 pounds.

Arkansas voters legalized medical marijuana through a constitutional amendment in 2016. The state saw its first dispensaries open shop in 2019. Since then, as these figures reflect, there’s been a gradual and continual increase in the number of medical patients. The current figure clocks in at 94,059, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Health. This number is up from the 88,893 registered cardholders in 2022. 

Despite such gains in medical sales, in Arkansas, the state has yet to embrace recreational marijuana. Back in November of 2022, voters rejected Issue 4, a measure that would have legalized adult-use cannabis, to the dismay of Arkansas cannabis advocates who worked so hard to push the bill through.  

Those pushing the failed measure were led by Responsible Growth Arkansas, an advocacy group concerned with reforming drug law, prison sentencing, and healthcare research. The bill would have amended the constitution to authorize the possession, personal use, and consumption of cannabis by adults 21 and over, as well as legalizing the cultivation and sale of cannabis by licensed commercial facilities.

However, the measure did face criticism. Some complained that it didn’t include expungement provisions or allow for home growing. There were also questions about the method of implementation. As a constitutional amendment, it would take a lot of work to make those changes further down the line. As a result, even die-hard pro-cannabis reformers weren’t over the moon excited about Issue 4. 

And Arkansas is a conservative state, making any change towards cannabis reform trickier, even in a time where some conservatives show bi-partisan support for cannabis and psychedelic legalization. State officials, such as Arkansas’ secretary of state, challenged the measure’s validity.

While those in support submitted more than the number of signatures required for the proposal to qualify for the ballot, the state Board of Election commissioners still rejected the measure, arguing that the ballot title didn’t adequately explain what the measure meant to voters. 

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson even held a joint press briefing on October 31, 2022, at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce in Little Rock to speak out against Issue 4. “This puts us at a disadvantage in [the] recruiting industry if Issue 4 passes,” Hutchinson said, citing how workplace drug testing would be affected.

So, for now, Arkansas only has (quite profitable) medical cannabis under Amendment 98. Hutchinson’s concern regarding workplace drug testing comes at a time when changes regarding drug testing are sweeping the nation. 

For instance, The Michigan Civil Service Commission recently passed a change that would end drug screenings for cannabis for applicants for many state jobs. This rule would overturn previous state policy that automatically disqualified applicants to state positions that tested positive for cannabis (although applicants to some jobs will still be required to pass a marijuana screening before hiring). 

Additionally, as noted regarding bipartisan support in the country, despite what the Republicans in Arkansas believe, Matt Gaetz of Florida recently proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would cease cannabis testing for military members. 

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The ballot initiative submitted by the Responsible Growth Arkansas, a cannabis advocacy group, was recently rejected on Aug. 3 by Board of Election Commissioners for its name and title. On Aug. 4, the group filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court to challenge the decision.

As of July 29, Responsible Growth Arkansas provided at least 90,000 valid signatures needed to qualify for the ballot (the group provided more than was necessary). However, once the Commissioners reviewed the submission, they claimed that the ballot title did not fully explain the amendment description to voters, and specifically stated that the current language would alter Arkansas’s current THC edible restrictions. The proposal in question, called “An amendment to authorize the possession, personal use, and consumption of cannabis by adults, to authorize the cultivation and sale of cannabis by licensed commercial facilities, and to provide for the regulation of those facilities,” would allow possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for adults over 21 years, and would permit state-licensed dispensaries to sell recreational cannabis, if passed.

Commissioner J. Harmon Smith focused on the THC limits for edibles. “If I’m a voter I might be all for this but I’d like to safeguard that edible limit,” Smith said.

Responsible Growth Arkansas’s attorney, Steven Lancaster, explained that this is an unreasonable request. “The type of detail that the board expected, or demanded in this case, would make our ballot title thousands and thousands of words long,” said Lancaster. “That just simply is not workable for a ballot.”

Following the rejection, the group filed a lawsuit to appeal the decision “to challenge the State Board of Election Commissioners’ thwarting of the will of the people and their right to adopt laws by initiative,” the filing states, according to KNWA. “The Board has attacked that heart through its incorrect rejection of the ballot title.” The filing includes a complaint against Secretary of State and Commissioner Chair John Thurston, who had certified that the initiative did receive enough signatures to be placed on the ballot on Aug. 2.

The filing claims that Thurston is required to certify the popular name and ballot title if they “are not misleading.” “The popular name and ballot title are legally sufficient under this Court’s precedent because they give voters an impartial summary of the Amendment that provides a fair understanding of the issues presented and of the scope and significance of the proposed changes to the law,” the filing continues. “Nothing is omitted that would give voters serious grounds for reflection, and nothing in the popular name and ballot title is misleading in any way. The Board thus erred in denying certification.”

Ultimately, the lawsuit claims that the rejection was unconstitutional, and asks for a preliminary injunction from the Supreme Court to include the ballot initiative, “because it is unlikely that the Court will decide this action before the August 25 deadline for certification for the Amendment to appear on the November 2022 ballot.”

Just before the initiative was rejected by Commissioners, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson expressed his opposition to the recreational cannabis initiative while speaking at the Arkansas Municipal Police Association on Aug. 3. “And the reason I oppose it is simply this: that it will increase the usage of marijuana,” Hutchinson said. “I believe that marijuana is a harmful drug. It is as simple as that. I look back to Alaska. In the 70s, they decriminalized marijuana. Marijuana use went up dramatically, particularly among their teens, and Alaska reversed courses and re-criminalized marijuana.”

Hutchinson claimed that cannabis is “harmful.” “Now, they’re going to sell this as something that’s going to help law enforcement. Fifteen percent of the revenue from the taxes on the sales of marijuana will go to a fund to support law enforcement stipends, 10% of it will go to UAMS in Little Rock, and 5% will go to drug courts,” Hutchinson continued. “And so, once again, they’re selling a harmful drug to the citizens of Arkansas based upon promises that look good. Now, those promises might be a reality, but I think you’ve got to be prepared for this debate.”

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