Pot- bid fees will net $ 1.5M

Money collected by the state from hundreds of applicants for 37 licenses to grow or sell medical marijuana should top $ 1.5 million after the licenses are awarded, an official said Tuesday.

Monday was the deadline to apply for one of 32 licenses to operate a dispensary or for one of five licenses for a cultivation center. State officials said they received a total of 322 applications.

The Department of Finance and Administration kept its cashier’s office open an extra hour Monday to accept checks. And it continued to accept checks Tuesday from applicants who received a voucher showing they had submitted their application before the state’s 4: 30 p. m. Monday deadline.

The fee to apply for a dispensary license is $ 7,500, and the department said it received 224 applications. The cost to apply for a cultivator’s license is $ 15,000, and 98 applications were received.

Losing bids will be refunded half their money. After refunds, the total amount collected by the state is expected to be $ 1,575,000, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman with the Department of Finance and Administration.

Hardin said some of the money has been earmarked for hiring six agents at Alcoholic Beverage Control to enforce medical marijuana laws. The rest of the money, he said, is being sent back to the state for “various uses.”

In a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted that he authorized the use of so- called rainy- day funds to initiate the regulation of medical marijuana after voters supported legalizing the drug last November.

“At some point, I trust that those funds will be reimbursed,” Hutchinson said. Rainy- day funds are unspent monies put back for unexpected expenses.