Judge temporarily halts marijuana commission from awarding additional dispensary licenses February 3, 2022 By Griffin Coop The state Medical Marijuana Commission can’t issue the final two dispensary licenses until a lawsuit alleging racial bias in the application process can be fully heard, according to a temporary restraining order issued by Circuit Judge Alice Gray on Tuesday. The commission had been on track to issue the remaining licenses this spring after it initiated a process last year to change the rules for considering expired applications. The Arkansas Legislative Council is expected to approve the rule changes next month, allowing expired applications to be considered, commission spokesman Scott Hardin said. The lawsuit and restraining order do not immediately impact the commission, Hardin said via email, because the order does not affect the commission’s approval of the rule changes, which is expected to take place in March. “By that time, we anticipate a decision will be made regarding whether the order was temporary or permanent,” Hardin said, noting that the commission does not have immediate plans for issuing the two licenses. The lawsuit, filed by a company called Absolute Essence, claims that the process for selecting applicants and awarding licenses was arbitrary, without any rational basis and plagued by unlawful and inconsistent procedures. The suit, which alleges racial basis in the commission’s processes, says the commission did not “evenhandedly and uniformly apply its own rules as between black-owned and non-black-owned.” According to the suit, the dispensary application filed by the plaintiff, a 100% black-owned company, was not scored appropriately and should have received a higher score. The lawsuit provides a litany of alleged improprieties in the scoring process. The amendment voters passed in 2016 to legalize medical marijuana allows the commission to issue up to 40 dispensary licenses. The commission has issued 38 licenses but needs a rule change to issue the remaining two licenses to applications already on file. Otherwise, the commission would need to initiate a new application process to issue new licenses. The applications were filed in 2017 and, after an extension period, expired last year. With a rule change allowing those expired applications to be considered, the next applicants in line to receive licenses are Green Remedies Group of Garland County in Zone 6 and T&C Management of Texarkana in Zone 8. The commission divided the state into eight zones, allowing for a maximum of five dispensaries in each zone. Zones 6 and 8 are the only zones that do not have the maximum five dispensaries. The lawsuit asks that the commission not issue anymore licenses until the 2017 applications are rescored or a new application process takes place. The temporary restraining order expires Feb. 15 but could be extended. The order says the court will contact the parties to schedule a hearing. Defendants in the suit are T&C Management, LLC; Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division; Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission; Green Remedies Group, LLC; and the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. The commission was set to meet today on matters unrelated to the rule change, but the meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather.
