Medical marijuana sales nearing $400 million mark

The state revenue agency projected medical marijuana sales will have crossed the $400 million mark by the end of Labor Day weekend.

According to the state Department of Finance and Administration, sales through Thursday totaled $398.34 million on 59,047 pounds sold. Based on those figures, medical marijuana patients have paid about $15 per gram on average.

Suite 443, the Malvern Avenue dispensary where the state’s first legal sale of the drug was transacted in May 2019, ranked third out of 36 dispensaries in sales during the 45-day reporting period that ended Thursday, putting it in the top five for the 12th-consecutive reporting period.

It reported sales of 359.81 pounds since mid-July. Sales of 234.58 pounds it reported in August also ranked third.

Green Springs Medical, the only dispensary licensed inside the city limits of Hot Springs, ranked sixth in sales during the 45 days that ended Thursday, reporting sales of 279.09 pounds that placed it in the top 10 for the third-straight reporting period.

Sales of 174.15 pounds it reported in August ranked seventh. The 4,710.16 pounds in total sales it reported through Thursday ranked second, trailing only The ReLeaf Center. The Bentonville location reported total sales of 6,256.45 pounds through Thursday. The 485.08 pounds in sales it reported during the 45-day period that ended Thursday ranked first, making it the sales leader for the 14th time in the last 15 reporting periods.

Sales of 312.82 pounds it reported in August also ranked first.

The 455.63 pounds in sales Natural Relief in Sherwood reported during the 45-day reporting period that ended Thursday ranked second. The 293.31 pounds it reported in August sales also ranked second.

The Tax Procedure Act prohibits the state from releasing revenue figures from individual dispensaries.

The Arkansas Department of Health reported 79,420 active patient cards, less than a 1% increase from the number in circulation at the end of July.

The constitutional amendment approving marijuana for medicinal use that voters approved in 2016 authorized the Medical Marijuana Commission to award 40 dispensary licenses. Thirty-six dispensaries are currently in operation.