Arkansas would have strictest marijuana program in the U.S., high prices, experts say October 6, 2022 By Griffin Coop Arkansas would have the most tightly regulated recreational cannabis program in the United States if voters approve a ballot measure to legalize marijuana for adult use, according to a report from Arkansas Advocate. The measure would place tight limits on the number of dispensaries and cultivators, would not allow residents to grow marijuana plants and would only allow possession of up to one ounce. National policy experts said a combination of the license cap, prohibition on residential cultivation and one-ounce possession limit would make the amendment the most tightly-regulated in the U.S. to date. “The Arkansas initiative as written is one of the stricter referenda there has been so far on adult-use cannabis,” said John Hudak, a marijuana policy expert and deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington D.C. “It certainly could create some potential challenges down the road in its strictness.” Arkansans should also expect the highest marijuana prices in the country, because of how the new marijuana industry would be framed. If Issue 4 passes, Arkansas will have the highest recreational cannabis prices in the U.S. due to the limits on growing licenses and the prohibition on residential cultivation, Smith Ellis said. “Arkansas will have the highest prices in the country,” he said. “The only people that will be able to afford it are the wealthy, and those who can’t will be arrested because they won’t be able to buy it legally. “There is no doubt in my mind.”
