Local dispensary ranks third in state in total 2021 sales

A photo illustration showing products from Green Springs, left, and Suite 443. File photos by The Sentinel-Record
A photo illustration showing products from Green Springs, left, and Suite 443. File photos by The Sentinel-Record

Dispensaries reported $264.9 million in 2021 medical marijuana sales, according to a report the state revenue agency released last week.

The constitutional amendment approving marijuana for medicinal use that voters approved in 2016 authorized the Medical Marijuana Commission to award 40 dispensary licenses. Thirty-seven are currently in operation.

The 2,899 pounds in sales Suite 443, the Malvern Avenue dispensary where the state's first legal sale of the drug was transacted in May 2019, reported last year ranked third, accounting for more than 7% of the 40,347 pounds sold last year. It's ranked in the top five for weight sold in the last 15 reporting periods. The Tax Procedure Act prohibits the state from releasing revenue figures from individual dispensaries.

Garland County's other licensed dispensary, Green Springs Medical, ranked eighth, reporting annual sales of 1,924 pounds. The Seneca Street location ranked in the top 10 for weight sold during the last six reporting periods. Its more than 5,300 pounds in reported sales since opening in May 2019 ranked third in total sales.

The ReLeaf Center in Bentonville ranked first in 2021 sales, reporting 4,012 pounds sold. It ranked first in total sales, reporting sales of more than 7,400 pounds since its August 2019 opening.

Natural Relief ranked second in weight sold last year, reporting sales of 3,682 pounds. The Sherwood location surpassed Green Springs last month for second in total sales, reporting sales of more than 5,500 pounds since opening in March 2020.

The state Department of Finance and Administration said medical marijuana patients have spent more than $500 million on the drug since May 2019. Those sales, and sales cultivators made to dispensaries, generated $34.5 million in state sales tax collections last year.

DFA said medical marijuana sales generated more than $57 million in state sales tax collections from May 2019 through the end of last year. The state's 6.5% sales tax collected $28.4 million, and the 4% privilege tax collected $28.9 million.

A 2019 law made the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences a beneficiary of the latter tax, the proceeds of which are helping UAMS achieve a National Cancer Institute designation. Medical marijuana patients pay the 6.5% and 4% levies. Only the 4% sales tax is assessed on sales from cultivators to dispensaries.

The Arkansas Department of Health reported 79,810 Arkansans had an active patient card as of Saturday.

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