Arkansas medical marijuana sales set a new record in 2023. The Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration shows that sales totaled $283 million. Scott Hardin is the department’s spokesperson, and he said the ongoing question has been how neighboring state’s availability of marijuana would impact sales in Arkansas.
"And at least as of now, it sure doesn't look like it because we had another record year, you know, $276 million was our record," Hardin said. "From 2022. This year, we got to $283 million. What we are seeing this year that's interesting is just that the amount that's being sold is going up significantly. And then we also increased by a few million, but it sure looks like the price is becoming more and more competitive by the day."
Dispensaries sold more than 62,000 pounds of product in 2023, which is a significant jump from the 50,000 plus pounds sold the year before. The Arkansas Department of Health reports there are currently more than 97,000 active patient cards as of Jan. 9. Hardin said this is significant as well.
"We thought that when the market was fully mature, we'd have about 50,000 people in the state with a medical marijuana card, and we're getting close to surpassing 100,000," he said.
Since sales first began in 2019, the chart has continued to go up and to the right: growth year over year. When it comes to more of the same in 2024, Hardin said it certainly looks like that will be the case.
"If there is a slowdown in Arkansas medical marijuana future, we're not seeing it at this point," Hardin said. "You know, there's a lot of coverage about the surrounding states and obviously Missouri and dispensaries just across the border but other than there was one dispensary that did testify to the medical marijuana commission that their sales had dropped by about 15% But other than that we're not hearing a lot from other dispensaries."
The state has approved 38 dispensaries across Arkansas, as well as eight cultivators to provide products to those dispensaries.
