Eureka Springs has a good shot at having a medical marijuana dispensary license awarded to a group of local doctors and a pharmacist who have proposed the Eureka Green dispensary. Eureka Green came in fifth in scoring for the Zone One area of Northwest Arkansas done by a consultant based in Boston hired by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission to rank nearly 200 application in eight zones across the state.
“It looks like we are fifth in line out of our zone,” Suzie Bell, one of the investors in Eureka Green, said. “They are only going to award four. The commission has not awarded anyone anything yet, but they go by points. Two of the groups ahead of us in zone one have multiple dispensary applications in different zones. They have to choose. They can only have one dispensary. So, all we need is to for one to choose to locate elsewhere other than the Zone One area.”
Bell said two of the groups ahead of Eureka Green in zone one were awarded one of five marijuana cultivation facility licenses in the state. She said she would hope those groups would choose to put their dispensary close to their cultivation sites rather than in Northwest Arkansas.
“So, we just need one to shift and it looks like we are going to be in,” Bell said. “But, if they both decide to stay in the Fayetteville area, and then we are out.”
Initially the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission was to review scoring of the 32 state dispensary licenses on Dec. 19. But the commission decided to delay that stating that an official with the consulting company wasn’t able to attend the meeting. The review was rescheduled for a Jan. 9 meeting. However, a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests resulted in the information being released Dec. 20.
“It was a great use of FOIA because it kept us hanging,” Bell said. “But we still don’t know. They have to confirm all these scores. All we know is that we have a pretty darn good shot at it. We know we are really, really close. Everyone is curious. I have friend dying of cancer right now. We need to have something in the works where we can give them humanitarian care. As they exit this life, they need to do it comfortably. I see this as really helping these folks.”
Bell said applying for a marijuana dispensary in Eureka Springs was her idea, and she talked her husband, Dr. Dan Bell, into it because of the potential to help people.
“I wanted to see doctors involved to do it correctly and ethically,” Bell said. “So, we got a group of doctors together and a pharmacist. We really felt we could do this like a medical clinic. We just thought it would be a wonderful asset to the community. We really want to be able to give back to the community. Our plan is to take some of our profits and invest back into the community.”
Bell said it is unfortunate that Arkansas has taken so long to get the first dispensary opened.
“Oklahoma passed it after us and they already have their dispensaries open,” Bell said. “Two years and they still haven’t gotten them open in Arkansas. That is really pretty bad. Folks are going across the state line and getting it. And wouldn’t you if you had someone dying of cancer and were trying to get some help for your loved ones? I can see that happening because you don’t want to see them suffering.”
Another issue is that the Constitutional amendment voters approved in 2016 allows for 40 dispensaries in the state. But the commission chose to only license 32.
“I’m just curious what they are going to do about that,” Bell said.
The top four companies in zone one include the Acanza Health Group, Valentine Holdings, Arkansas Medical Source Patient Center and the Releaf Center.