First Arkansas facility OK'd to grow medical marijuana

In this Nov. 30, 2018 photo, medical marijuana dispensary owner Chance Gilbert displays some of the marijuana he's grown at the Oklahoma Roots dispensary in the bedroom community of Shawnee, about 40 miles east of Oklahoma City. The roll out of statewide medical and recreational programs typically is a grindingly slow process that can take years. Not so in Oklahoma, a Bible Belt state that moved with lightning speed once voters approved medical cannabis in June, 2018. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
In this Nov. 30, 2018 photo, medical marijuana dispensary owner Chance Gilbert displays some of the marijuana he's grown at the Oklahoma Roots dispensary in the bedroom community of Shawnee, about 40 miles east of Oklahoma City. The roll out of statewide medical and recreational programs typically is a grindingly slow process that can take years. Not so in Oklahoma, a Bible Belt state that moved with lightning speed once voters approved medical cannabis in June, 2018. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

LITTLE ROCK — An eastern Arkansas facility has become the first to get approval to begin growing medical marijuana to provide to dispensaries.

A state finance department spokesman said Friday the BOLD Team cultivation facility in Cotton Plant was approved after officials conducted a final inspection earlier this month.

BOLD is one of five companies that the state licensed last year to grow medical marijuana. Arkansas voters in 2016 approved a constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for medical use.

BOLD Team said in a statement that it expects to have medicine available for dispensaries in April.

The state Medical Marijuana Commission earlier this week named the 32 companies it plans to license as dispensaries.

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

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