Pot panel to peruse dispensary requests
The panel formed to license Arkansas’ first medical marijuana growers and sellers will meet for the first time since it was sued in March, but it won’t discuss the controversial growing permits.
Instead, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission intends to consider dispensary applications, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
The commission plans to wait at least until July 9 to address cultivation permits, Hardin said. That’s the day the Arkansas Supreme Court’s ruling clearing the commission to formally issue cannabis growing permits becomes official.
Monday’s meeting will be the public’s first glimpse into how the five commissioners will react to the deluge of accusations and problems that have swirled around the cultivation license scoring process since the last
meeting. They’ve avoided speaking publicly since beginning to grade applications in December.
The five-member commission on Feb. 27 had revealed its ranking of hopeful growers, saying the top five would receive licenses. However, several unsuccessful applicants sued the commission, resulting in a preliminary injunction halting the issuance of the licenses. The high court last week overturned the order on procedural grounds.
Chief Justice John Dan Kemp, though, in a brief concurrence, hinted that the court may act if the commission acts unconstitutionally or under unlawful procedure.
“I urge the [commission] to review its rules and procedures and to cure any deficiencies,” Kemp wrote.
Calls for the commission to revisit its rules and scoring process have flooded in the past several weeks from predominately unsuccessful applicants who claim that the public has lost faith in the process.
David Couch, the author of Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, which legalized medical marijuana in 2016, has also said the scoring process should be overhauled. The commission should employ the process championed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, which mirrors the liquor licensing process, said Couch, who is also a member of Boll Weevil Farms of the Delta LLC, the 18thranked cultivation applicant.
Hutchinson suggested a lottery-style system before the commission elected to merit-score applications. The Republican governor has since said he recognizes the commission’s independence.
Under a lottery, all applicants that meet certain criteria would be entered into a drawing for the licenses.
“If you do a lottery, you’re going to eliminate bribery, conflicts of interest and you’re going to eliminate scoring,” Couch said Friday. “Three of the four things that have gotten the most press would be eliminated by a lottery.”
Rep. Scott Baltz, D-Pocahontas, has also called on the commission to change how it licenses cannabis growers, but he’d prefer a merit-scoring evaluation from an independent, out-of-state firm.
The five companies selected to receive licenses would strongly oppose any effort to change the process. Casey Castleberry, an attorney for Bold Team, said his company, which ranked second, would explore legal options if the licensing process was over- hauled.
“From a legal standpoint, we feel like it would be depriving use of a protectable property interest without due process,” he said. “These were the rules we were given to play by. It’s not proper to change the rules after the game has been played.”
While the top-five companies claim that they already have cultivation licenses, the state has maintained that it hasn’t yet issued the permits. The commission would be more free to revisit its rules if the licenses indeed haven’t been issued.
Hardin, the Finance Department spokesman, noted the commission established its merit-scoring system after numerous public hearings. The finance department provides administrative support to the commission, which is independent.
“While a lottery was considered as the rules were developed, there was overwhelming public support for merit review,” Hardin said in an email. “To implement a lottery would require changes to the established rules. We can’t speculate whether this (lottery) will be considered by the [commission] as this is something the Commission must address at the appropriate time.”
Patient advocates have also urged the commission to continue its review of dispensary applications. Dispensaries may legally possess 50 mature marijuana plants and 150 immature marijuana plants.
With 5,504 registered patients approved as of Friday, 32 dispensaries would likely be able to adequately supply them, Couch said.
The commissioners received the first batch of dispensary applications at the Feb. 27 meeting, but they put grading on hold as the lawsuit moved through the courts.
No agenda was released Friday, and Hardin said he wasn’t sure whether the commission planned to consider any changes to how it would evaluate dispensary applications.