Members of Arkansas' medical marijuana industry at a legislative subcommittee meeting last week aired frustrations with the state contractor used to track cannabis products and sales.

The vice chairwoman of the Arkansas Legislative Council's Medical Marijuana Oversight Subcommittee, Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, raised the issue on Thursday, saying she had heard concerns about the accuracy of data in the Biotrack system and that the company had not been responsive to providers' needs.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — An Arkansas organization, True Grass, is gathering signatures to get a recreational marijuana amendment on the 2022 ballot.

The proposed amendment would legalize the production, possession and sale of marijuana for people older than 21. It would also expunge cannabis convictions in the state.

A volunteer with True Grass, Jesse Raphael, said bringing recreational marjuana to the state would be a boost for the economy.

Medical marijuana sales are proving to be icing on the state's revenue cake nearly two years after the first dispensaries opened in Arkansas.

• The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration reported $330.4 million of statewide medical marijuana sales — more than 48,914 pounds — as of June 3.

• That adds to the state's projected surplus revenue of nearly $1 billion.

• NWA's four dispensaries alone have collectively sold 28.3% of the total volume in that time, more than 13,850 pounds.

Why it matters: Northwest Arkansas has become a key driver of the state's medical marijuana industry and of the sales tax revenue Arkansas collects on each purchase.

Collections from Arkansas state taxes on medical marijuana purchases recently surpassed $30 million.

According to the latest report from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, the 6.5% state sales tax and 4% privilege tax established by the legislature have netted about $31,663,022 as of March 31, 2021.

Medical marijuana sales began in June 2019. While the 6.5% tax does not apply when a cultivator sells to a dispensary, the 4% does apply to those sales. Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Scott Hardin said the sales tax numbers have "exceeded expectations." Overall sales will soon surpass $300 million, he added.

More than 40,000 pounds of medical marijuana have been sold in Arkansas since the first dispensary opened in May 2019, according to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission (AMMC). A dispensary in Bentonville has sold the most medical marijuana.

The 42,769 pounds sold is valued at $285 million, according to a press release from Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, the parent agency of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission. State taxes on the dispensary sales since May 2019 total just under $30 million. Most of the tax revenue is placed in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences National Cancer Designation Trust Fund.

Arkansans spent $181 million on more than 28,000 pounds of medical marijuana in 2020, the first full year of legal cannabis sales in the state, according to data from the state Department of Finance & Administration.

But the medical marijuana phenomenon is not spread evenly across the state. As of Dec. 31 — a record day for marijuana sales — 31 dispensaries were open in 23 of the state’s 75 counties. Fourteen of them had opened in 2019 and reported full-year sales of between 400 and 3,000 pounds of the plant. The 32nd dispensary opened in Hardy on Jan. 7 of this year.

Medical marijuana sales in Arkansas have hit a significant milestone a little more than a year after the first dispensaries in the state began serving customers.

Local news outlets in the Natural State reported that medical cannabis sales in Arkansas have officially eclipsed $200 million, with patients purchasing more than 15 tons of product. 

The medical marijuana industry in Arkansas is booming, according to reports.

Medical marijuana sales in Arkansas have hit a significant milestone a little more than a year after the first dispensaries in the state began serving customers.

Local news outlets in the Natural State reported that medical cannabis sales in Arkansas have officially eclipsed $200 million, with patients purchasing more than 15 tons of product. 

The exact figures, according to local television stations KATV and 5NEWS: $200.7 million and 30,648 pounds of medical marijuana.

In the 18 months since Arkansas’ first medical marijuana dispensary opened in May 2019, overall sales have surpassed 28,000 pounds. In total, Arkansans have spent $187 million to obtain 28,674 pounds of medical marijuana.

At this rate, officials with the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission anticipate sales will reach 30,000 pounds by late December.

Locally, since Plant Family Therapeutics of Mountain Home opened in February, the company has sold 1,303 pounds of medical marijuana.

In Mountain View, since Fiddler’s Green opened in July 2019, the company has sold 1,581 pounds of medical marijuana.