The process to complete an application for a medical marijuana business in Arkansas is intense, and groups that applied for dispensaries, like Eureka Green, filled out hundreds of pages.

Suzie Bell with Eureka Green explained, "You have to put in a business plan, you have to tell them exactly how you're going to operate it."

Even though the top-scoring dispensary applications are not supposed to come out until next week, the consulting group's raw scores were released in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act requests.

Dr. Dan Bell, with Eureka Green, said, "We were fifth in our zone."

So what does that mean for this group in Eureka Springs?

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission divided the state into eight zones.The four top-scoring applicants in each zone will get a dispensary license, for a total of 32 dispensaries.

Based on these raw scores, which are not final and have not yet been approved by the commission, Eureka Green came in fifth in Zone 1, which means they just missed the cut.

"We were like 19th in the state out of 200-something. So it was a strong application," Bell said.

But each group can only have one dispensary in the state, even if they applied for a dispensary in multiple zones. Two of the groups who scored in the top four in Zone 1 also scored in the top four in other zones.

Bell said, "There are two in Bentonville and two in Fayetteville. So basically what is that? A 20 mile zone. And that's not going to serve this district well," He continued, "And so if one of these chooses to be somewhere else we'd be in. Or if the commission would choose to give a fifth license in each zone, which the law allows them to do, that would allow them to spread the geographic zone."

If that group in Eureka Springs does get a license for a dispensary, that will be two medical marijuana businesses in Carroll County. There's a group in Berryville that already got a license for a cultivation center just last year.

And if Eureka Green gets that license:

"We're going to run it like a medical clinic with nurses and charts," Bell said, "We're going to advise people in professional ways that I don't think anybody else is going to be able to do anywhere in the state."

The spokesperson with Arkansas’ Alcoholic Beverage Control Division emphasize the raw scores released do not guarantee a license will be provided. Scores will be discussed at the Medical Marijuana Commission meeting on January 9.