The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen GREEN LIGHTED: Dragan Vicentic, left, and Bruce Simpson display a letter Wednesday notifying them of the state’s intent to award their company one of four medical marijuana dispensary licenses allocated for Zone 6. They plan to open the dispensary by early May. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen

One of 32 businesses the state selected to dispense medical marijuana is coming to Hot Springs, joining two others licensed to sell the drug in Garland County.

Dragan Vicentic and Bruce Simpson, CEO/chairman of the board and vice chairman, respectively, of Green Springs Medical LLC, said they plan on opening a dispensary and cultivation facility on Golf Links Road by early May. The Boston consulting firm hired by the state's Medical Marijuana Commission to rank applicants gave the company the highest score among the roughly 30 businesses that applied for licenses in Zone 6.

Each of the state's eight zones was allocated four licenses. Zone 6 is the eight-county region that includes Garland.

Doctors Orders RX Inc. and Natural State Medical Group Inc. are the two other applicants seeking to open Garland County dispensaries that ranked in the top four. The former's corporate filing lists Donald Sears of Mayflower as its president. James Adametz is listed as Natural State Medical Group's president. He had not responded to a request for comment at presstime.

Native Green Wellness Center ranked in the top four of the Zone 6 and Zone 5 applicants, but rules promulgated by the Medical Marijuana Commission allow one dispensary license per applicant. The company's Zone 6 application was seeking a license in Saline County.

Green Remedies Group LLC of Little Rock, the Zone 6 applicant with the fifth-highest score, would be licensed in Garland County if Native Green Wellness Center chooses to operate in Zone 5, which includes Pulaski County.

The state Department of Finance and Administration said it's not ready to release applications, so the exact location of the facilities won't be known until then.

"We are in the process of redacting those applications for release," DFA spokesman Scott Hardin said.

He said qualifying applicants were notified by mail. They have seven days after receipt of notification to pay the $15,000 licensing fee and post a $100,000 performance bond. Licenses are valid for one year and subject to a $22,500 renewal fee, according to commission rules.

"We anticipate we will have 32 licensed dispensaries within the next two weeks," Hardin said, noting that some may be opening as soon as March.

Vicentic and Simpson said their track record with the state's Alcohol Beverage Control Division, the agency charged with regulating medical marijuana, helped to recommend their application.

"We've owned restaurants and nightclubs and have a rather extensive experience with ABC," Simpson said. "We've both had licenses for many years. The fact that we've had a good rapport with the ABC and never had a problem with our licenses was a key factor. With (Vicentic's) business background and my security qualifications, we felt like we made a good pair."

Simpson said he worked in the security industry for 40 years, primarily providing security for entertainers. He said he's also an owner of thoroughbred racehorses. Vicentic owns commercial and residential properties, a used car dealership and an electronic cigarette store.

"I did a ton of research on this," he said. "The Medical Marijuana Commission outlined what they wanted as far as a business plan, environmental plan and cultivation plan. It was just a matter of putting all that into a business plan, which, as a businessman, I know how to do."

Vicentic said he was unaware of the health benefits attributed to marijuana when he began his research, explaining that varieties his company plans to cultivate will target the most severe of the 18 conditions that qualify for treatment. Data released by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement in 2017 showed more than 25,000 Garland County residents have a qualifying condition, which includes cancer, Alzheimer's disease, peripheral neuropathy, post-traumatic stress disorder and epilepsy.

"Science has advanced to the point that you no longer have to get high to experience the benefits of marijuana," he said in a news release. "The THC, or psychoactive element of marijuana, can be removed so that you only experience the medicinal qualities without the high."

Vicentic said he sees the dispensary in a similar light as his electronic cigarette store, which he said has helped smokers quit using tobacco. He hopes palliative benefits linked to marijuana will help those struggling with opioid addiction.

"We will use the same protocol in the marijuana dispensary to help people addicted to opioid pain relievers to replace pharma opioids with safer natural products," he said.

Vicentic said the dispensary will sell products from one of the five cultivation facilities licensed by the state until the company's growing operation gets off the ground. Hardin said ABC gave the go ahead earlier this month for a Woodruff County cultivation site to begin growing product.

Local on 01/17/2019