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Arkansas Names Five Companies Offered Licenses To Grow Marijuana

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission members Dr. Carlos Roman and James Miller at Tuesday's meeting.
Bobby Amppezan
/
Arkansas Public Media
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission members Dr. Carlos Roman and James Miller at Tuesday's meeting.

Hear Arkansas Public Media's Bobby Ampazzan talk about Tuesday's meeting.

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission members Dr. Carlos Roman and James Miller at Tuesday's meeting.
Credit Bobby Amppezan / Arkansas Public Media
/
Arkansas Public Media
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission members Dr. Carlos Roman and James Miller at Tuesday's meeting.

A key step in the implementation of Arkansas's voter-approved medical marijuana program took place Tuesday, as five companies were announced who are being offered licenses to grow marijuana. 95 had applied. 

The winning companies were scored individually by the members of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission, with key information such as names and other details redacted so there would be no favoritism in who was awarded licenses.

The five companies have seven days to pay a $100,000 licensing fee and post a $500,000 performance bond. Runner-up companies were also named in case the winning five are unable to meet those obligations.

Arkansas Public Media's Bobby Ampezzan covered Tuesday's meeting and joined KUAR's Michael Hibblen live on the air to discuss the proceedings. You can listen to the interview above.

Copyright 2018 KUAR

As News Director, Michael Hibblen oversees daily news coverage for KUAR. He handles assignments for the news staff, helps develop story ideas and edits copy. Michael isresponsible for starting a news-sharing partnership between public radio stations in Arkansas in 2009 which laid the foundation for what became Arkansas Public Media. He is also a regular panelist and fill-in host on AETN's Arkansas Week, where journalists discuss issues in the news.
Bobby Ampezzan is a native of Detroit who holds degrees from Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) and the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville). He's written for The Guardian newspaper and Oxford American magazine and was a longtime staff writer fortheArkansas Democrat-Gazette. The best dimestore nugget he's lately discovered comes from James Altucher's Choose Yourself(actually, the Times' profile on Altucher, which quotes the book): "I lose at least 20 percent of my intelligence when I am resentful." Meanwhile, his faith in public radio and television stems from the unifying philosophy that not everything be serious, but curiosity should follow every thing, and that we be serious about curiosity.