Griffen exhorts pot-licensing panel to work

Start rescoring applications for cannabis growers, judge urges

A Pulaski County circuit judge Wednesday urged the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission to get back to work issuing the state’s first licenses to grow medical cannabis.

That process — along with the grading of medical marijuana dispensary applications — stalled in March after Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen sided with a disgruntled growing-permit applicant that sued the commission and state regulators. Griffen declared the panel’s scoring and licensing system unconstitutional and “null and void.”

The implications of Griffen’s March 21 order — which he amended last week to include the ranking and permitting process was vacated and remanded back to the commission — has been the subject of much debate in legal circles and the medical cannabis community.

Wednesday’s order offers some clarity, but several attorneys interviewed Wednesday said questions remain, primarily whether

the order can be appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Past rulings from the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are clear a circuit court’s remand of an administrative agency’s decision can’t be appealed, Griffen wrote in Wednesday’s order.

However, state attorneys had already begun the appeal process before Wednesday, filing a notice of appeal on March 23.

Several attorneys and law professors said a determination of whether Griffen’s order can be appealed would ultimately fall on the state Supreme Court justices.

Griffen, though, encouraged the commission to move forward.

“The Court hopes that the present ruling will clear the way for the Medical Marijuana Commission and its co-defendants to proceed with the work required to properly screen, evaluate, and select medical marijuana cultivation facility licensees,” the order states.

A commission spokesman referred questions Wednesday to Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office, which represents the commission in the lawsuit.

Nicole Ryan, Rutledge’s communications director, said, “We are reviewing Judge Griffen’s order and will consider appropriate next steps.”

Arkansans voted to legalize medical cannabis by approving Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution in November 2016. The drug must be grown and processed in state. It appeared that the first growing permits would be awarded last month to five companies that ranked highest in a merit-based scoring process. Those firms were: Natural State Medicinals Cultivation, Bold Team LLC, Natural State Wellness Enterprises, Osage Creek Cultivation and Delta Medical Cannabis Co.

However, a court challenge from Naturalis Health LLC, the 37th-ranked cultivation license applicant, stopped the licenses from being formally issued just hours before a commission meeting scheduled for March 14.

Griffen found the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division staff, which provides administrative support to the commission, failed to verify that each application met key requirements, and he cited the appearance of bias in the evaluations submitted by two members of the five-person commission.

David Couch, the Little Rock attorney who drafted the medical marijuana amendment, said Wednesday he hopes the state will drop its appeal.

“The most important thing is that we get medicine to patients as soon as possible,” he said. “With that in mind, Judge Griffen has made a ruling that you could interpret to have suggestions on how to cure the cultivation licensing process. I think they could follow those suggestions.”

Couch said the applications could be sent out for grading from an independent consultant; the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division staff could verify that each application complies with the commission’s rules; or the commission could develop a recusal process if a commissioner has any perceived conflict of interest with an applicant.

Former Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Wednesday his group was studying Griffen’s latest order. McDaniel is a part owner and attorney for Natural State Wellness Enterprises, which received the third-highest score.

Four of the five groups that stood to receive medical cannabis growing permits have intervened on the side of the state in Naturalis’ suit. Griffen in his Wednesday order denied requests from those companies that he reconsider his initial order.

Aside from McDaniel, attorneys for those groups either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Griffen also quashed deposition notices issued to Alcoholic Beverage Control Division Director Mary Robin Casteel; the commission chairman, Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman; and a commission member, Dr. J. Carlos Roman. Griffen ruled that there is no legal basis for depositions to be taken because the commission’s actions had already been vacated and remanded for further action to comply with the March 21 order.