Medical marijuana sales are expected to reach 30,000 pounds by the end of the year, the state revenue agency said last week.
The Department of Finance and Administration reported 28,674 pounds have been sold since the first legal sale of the drug in Arkansas in May 2019. The sales have generated $187 million in revenue for the 31 dispensaries in operation.
Daily sales averaged $562,500 during the 16-day reporting period that ended Nov. 24. Suite 443 and Green Springs Medical, Garland County's two licensed dispensaries, ranked fifth and 12th, with sales of 72.94 pounds reported for the former and 42.99 for the latter. The two locations ranked fifth and 12th during the 25-day reporting period that ended Nov. 8.
The 3,355.79 pounds Green Springs reported in sales since its May 2019 opening continued to lead all dispensaries, but the ReLeaf Center in Bentonville is closing in on the Seneca Street location. It reported 3,130.07 pounds in total sales since its August 2019 opening. It ranked second for the reporting period that ended Nov. 24, logging sales of 106.78 pounds.
The 123.28 pounds Sherwood's Natural Relief reported dislodged the ReLeaf Center from the sales lead. The Benton County location led the four previous sales reports.
The 81.53 pounds Acanza in Fayetteville reported ranked third, and Harvest in Conway ranked fourth with 77.54 pounds. The Tax Procedure Act prohibits the state from releasing revenue figures for individual dispensaries.
The state said six additional dispensaries in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Osceola and Pine Bluff are in the process of opening, giving the state 37 with the new locations. The state constitutional amendment that legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes authorized the Medical Marijuana Commission to issue up to 40 dispensary licenses. All of the licenses allocated to Zone 6, which includes Garland County, have been awarded.
The Arkansas Department of Health said it recently changed its reporting metric for marijuana patient cards, listing the number of active cards rather than the total number of cards issued. As of Friday, there were more than 60,000 active patient cards.