Fee to think about Jonesboro dispensary transfer right now

A combat over marijuana in Craighead County might come to an finish right now after three months of debate because the state Medical Marijuana Fee considers a dispensary’s request to maneuver to Jonesboro. 

NEA Full Spectrum, situated in Brookland about midway between Jonesboro and Paragould, first requested the state Medical Marijuana Fee in April for permission to maneuver about 10 miles south to Jonesboro. The fee has postpone the choice at its final two conferences and can take into account it once more at right now’s 4:30 assembly. 

The proposed location at 3603 Hudson Drive in Jonesboro is about 5 miles from Jonesboro’s solely dispensary, CROP, which has opposed the transfer, citing quite a lot of points, together with issues with the proposed location and the applying. 

Annie Depper, representing CROP, argued earlier than the fee at its Might assembly that the proposed location was in violation of the fee’s rule that claims dispensaries can’t be situated inside 1,500 ft of a facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. 

The Alcoholic Beverage Management division investigated the power in query, Households Inc., and decided that it doesn’t meet the definition of such a facility. The ability’s web site says it offers providers to individuals with behavioral issues, household remedy and counseling. 

In a letter to the fee this week, NEA Full Spectrum lawyer Abtin Mehdizadegan argued that sufferers can be higher served if the dispensary is situated in Jonesboro by decreasing the space Jonesboro sufferers should drive to their retailer. If the transfer is permitted, NEA Full Spectrum will supply free supply and no minimal buy requirement for sufferers in Jonesboro, Brookland and Paragould, the letter states. The shop usually has a $50 minimal buy for supply.

The fee has thought of greater than 20 location transfers for the reason that state medical marijuana program began in 2019 and has permitted all however one among them. 

NEA Full Spectrum was initially deliberate for Rector earlier than the fee permitted a transfer to Brookland in 2019. Final yr, the fee permitted the dispensary’s transfer to Paragould however the dispensary by no means made the transfer earlier than requesting the switch of location to Jonesboro. 

CROP was initially deliberate for Osceola earlier than the fee permitted a transfer to Jonesboro in 2021. 

Makes an attempt to contact Depper had been unsuccessful. 

To resume or to not renew

The fee may also wade by way of competing authorized arguments because it considers the renewal of River Valley Reduction’s cultivation allow. The embattled Fort Smith cultivator’s allow was revoked final yr after a circuit court docket ruling and a listening to by the ABC. River Valley appealed the matter to the state Supreme Courtroom, which granted River Valley’s request to expedite its assessment of the matter to protect the established order within the meantime. 

The fee permitted all allow renewals of the entire state’s hashish companies final month besides River Valley. 

Mehdizadegan, representing the plaintiff 2600 Holdings within the case, has sent a letter to the fee, saying it mustn’t renew the allow. Lawyer Joe Falasco, representing River Valley, has additionally sent a letter to the fee, arguing the fee ought to approve the renewal and that it doesn’t have the authority to not grant the renewal. 

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