The state released Thursday the names of 32 top-scoring companies that applied for Arkansas' first medical marijuana dispensary permits, but the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission must still approve them.

The scores were assigned by a Boston-based consultant hired earlier this year to evaluate about 199 cannabis-selling applications.

The commission has a meeting scheduled next month to review the scores.

"The scores are not final and have not been reviewed or approved by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission," said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. "The scores in no way guarantee a license will be provided."

The scores were released after the commission received numerous public records requests, including from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The 32 dispensaries will be set up across eight zones throughout the state with four dispensaries per region.

Once the commission selects the top 32 applicants, the companies will receive licenses after each pays a $15,000 licensing fee and posts a $100,000 performance bond.

Several companies submitted applications for dispensaries in multiple zones, receiving top marks from Public Consulting Group. However, those companies, if selected for licenses, will be forced to choose just one zone in which to operate a dispensary, opening the door for the fifth-ranked company in another zone.

Several of the companies that received high marks from Public Consulting Group are owned by the groups that received the first of five cultivation licenses in July.

Valentine Holdings, for example, shares some of the same owners as Delta Medical Cannabis Co., the Newport-based growing facility. Don Parker, a spokesman, owner and attorney for the group, said in a phone interview Thursday evening that his group was elated.

Parker also acknowledged that the scores are likely to be challenged in court, alluding to the lawsuits that delayed for four months the awarding of cultivation licenses earlier this year.

"There's likely to be challenges just like there are in every other state that does this, so it sure won't surprise me if it happens in Arkansas," Parker said. "I hope with hiring a third party to score the applications we've taken all the perceived biases out of the process."

Parker, whose groups received the high score in three different zones, said he wasn't sure which location the company would select. He expects construction of the dispensary to take about six months.

Ben Kimbro, a spokesman for Natural State Wellness Dispensary, which received a top-four score in four separate zones, similarly said the company hadn't yet decided which location to choose.

"We'll just have to take a look to see what makes the most sense," he said. "But I'll say it's cool to have a choice."

State regulators project that the first dispensary will open in April, barring any legal setbacks. Most medical cannabis will be grown at cultivation facilities, but dispensaries may also grow a limited number of plants.

Parker's group, for example, planned to grow specialty strains in their dispensary to treat unique conditions while growing strains catered to more widespread use at their cultivation greenhouse in Newport.

Patients will be able to buy medical cannabis if they've been certified to have one of 18 qualifying conditions. There are 6,638 registered patients in Arkansas, but state and industry officials expect that number to increase once medical marijuana is available.

Arkansas is one of 30 states with medical marijuana programs. Voters legalized the controversial drug in 2016, approving Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, but legal and regulatory delays have kept the first cannabis businesses from opening, frustrating patients and business owners alike.

A Section on 12/21/2018