Arkansas Officials to Begin Reviewing Cultivator License Applications

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]S[/dropcap]tate officials in Arkansas have been running into some issues with their medical cannabis program, and the process of reviewing cultivators was temporarily placed on hold. Now, thanks to an order from a judge, it is back on track again.

According to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen urged the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission to restart the licensing process for cultivators. In mid-April, Griffen deemed the process unconstitutional.

But now, the process will be revisited with the hope that it can be improved. “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 new licensing order states. The Arkansas Supreme Court commented that it will review this order and considering the next steps for the future.

Judge Wendell also denied the order requests of four out of the five companies trying to obtain permits, all of whom were defendants in the trial. The lawsuits were initially filed because applicants felt others were unfairly discounted, claiming that the process was biased towards those who received licenses.

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission panel will now begin reviewing 227 of the licenses originally received that were not granted. While this may have been considered an unfortunate setback at first, due to the fact that businesses had to wait longer to open, it is clear that many of those applicants who initially attempted to get licenses thought the process was unfair.

Whether or not the new process will be deemed fair and whether interested businesses get their licenses remains to be seen, but it is clear that medical cannabis is finally making progress in Arkansas.