Arkansas delays announcement of medical pot dispensaries

This Sept. 15, 2015 file photo shows marijuana plants a few weeks away from harvest in a medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Ill.
This Sept. 15, 2015 file photo shows marijuana plants a few weeks away from harvest in a medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Ill.

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission says it will wait until early next year to award licenses to the state's first dispensaries for the drug, which voters legalized for medicinal purposes more than two years ago.

The panel had planned to meet later this week to announce the dispensary scores, but the panel on Tuesday pushed back the meeting until Jan. 9 to allow newly appointed commissioners time to be briefed on the issues.

Earlier this year, the commission hired a Boston-based consultant to grade the more than 200 applications for the state's first dispensaries. Under the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2016, Arkansas can have no more than 32 dispensaries for medical marijuana.

The commission in July awarded five licenses for businesses to grow medical marijuana.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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