The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen OPEN FOR BUSINESS: About 70 people were in line outside Green Springs Medical on Seneca Street when it opened shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday, May 13, 2019. The medical marijuana dispensary was the first to open within the city limits of Hot Springs. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen

Medical marijuana business in Garland County has been brisk since the state's first legal sale of the drug was transacted here last week.

More than 3,100 transactions through Thursday produced over 35 pounds in sales, according to information provided by the state Department of Finance and Administration.

The county has a monopoly at the moment, as Doctor's Orders RX, 4897 Malvern Ave., and Green Springs Medical, 309 Seneca St., are the only dispensaries of 32 licensed to operate statewide that are open for business. The county's other licensee, Natural State Medical Group, 1402 Airport Road, has yet to open.

DFA said the amendment legalizing medical marijuana in Arkansas gives the state no oversight authority on pricing, leaving it to the market to set prices. Doctor's Orders and Green Springs charge $15 per gram, a cost Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield said isn't covered under its prescription drug plan.

"Arkansas Blue Cross does not cover substances that are illegal under federal law," company spokesman Max Greenwood said.

In addition to state and local taxes, patients pay a 4 percent privilege tax that DFA said supports the administration of the medical marijuana program.

The state medical marijuana law's conflict with federal drug laws makes dispensing a cash-only business, as financial services such as credit cards and banking are unavailable to the medical marijuana industry. Green Springs CEO Dragan Vicentic said his dispensary has an on-site ATM for patients wary of carrying cash.

Vicentic said the reason other dispensaries aren't open may be due to lost momentum during the more than two-year period between voters passing the medical marijuana initiative in November 2016 and the state awarding licenses earlier this year, forcing business plans that had been shelved to be implemented with little notice.

"It's one of those deals where 200 people applied and only 32 got it," said Vicentic, who, along with business partner Bruce Simpson, holds the only dispensary license inside the city of Hot Springs. "The fact that it took two years, maybe some people decided to do something else. When we finally received word they were ready, people were kind of floored initially. It was up in the air. It was one of those things you didn't know until you knew."

Vicentic said Green Springs and Doctor's Orders also benefited from not having to construct a facility from the ground up. Green Springs moved into a location formerly occupied by an awning seller, and Doctor's Order's occupies a former barbecue restaurant.

Doctor's Orders initially offered five strains of the drug, according to a price sheet a company spokesman provided Friday. All varieties are sourced from Bold Team's Cotton Plant cultivation facility, the lone grow operation with product ready for market. The state's three other licensed cultivators have yet to yield a product.

The price sheet said the drug helps with stress, depression, chronic pain, headaches, fatigue, insomnia and gastrointestinal pain. One strain is said to induce feelings of happiness and relaxation.

Older patients Vicentic has talked to have told him they want the medicinal benefits of the drug without the psychoactive effects, but neither dispensary offers strains without THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Vicentic said he expects non-THC varieties to be available soon.

"I've placed orders for some hemp flower that doesn't have THC," he said. "The feedback I've gotten from older people is they don't want to get high. They just want their pain to go away. The hemp flower we have coming should suit that purpose."

The Food and Drug Administration has approved cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive component of marijuana, for treatment of seizures in small children. The agency has not certified the drug as safe or effective for other conditions, which is made explicit on medical marijuana packaging.

Vicentic said he's hopeful additional medicinal benefits will be proven once more dispensaries and grow operations get off the ground. Research has been limited due to the federal government's classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value.

"It's kind of known in the cannabis community about all the natural aspects," he said. "It lowers blood pressure, takes away anxiety, allows you to sleep and takes away seizures. I think once more studies are done a lot more benefits will come to the fore."

Local on 05/19/2019