Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
A medical cannabis dispensary may be coming to Mulberry next year.
Mulberry Mayor Gary Baxter said the city was approached by a company called Natural State Healthcare after the beginning of 2017, following the 2016 general election, during which Arkansas voters approved Issue 6 on the ballot. Listed with the popular name of "The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016," this made the medical use of marijuana legal under Arkansas state law.
Baxter said Natural State Healthcare was looking for a location for a medical cannabis processing plant and dispensary.
"And they said, 'We are looking at a location in Mulberry's industrial park,' which is already zoned for commercial and industrial," Baxter said. "... According to the state, cities and counties cannot discriminate against a medical marijuana dispensary, and it must be treated like any other pharmacy or any other business."
Baxter said he was told the facility would be dispensing suppositories, oils and other items to residents who have been certified by the state to purchase medical cannabis.
″... Not the recreational marijuana that makes people high, but the medical marijuana that gives people a better quality of life than they would have without this product," Baxter said.
According to results from the general election provided by the Crawford County Clerk's Office, 11,652 county voters voted in favor of Issue 6 while 10,553 voted against it.
Corey Hunt, the president and CEO of Natural State Healthcare, said the company is a group of medical professionals and medical cannabis experts that came together to create a care center environment, as well as a processing and compounding facility, to make products for medical cannabis patients in Arkansas. It was founded this year. Hunt is also the co-founder of Illegally Healed, a nonprofit organization that, according to its Facebook page, provides multimedia content related to cannabis science, patient testimonials and news.
Hunt said Natural State Healthcare has plans to build a 10,000-square-foot facility in Mulberry. It will be able to handle dispensing medical cannabis and education for medical cannabis patients. It will also have full extraction and compounding facilities. Different products will be developed to serve a wide variety of patients.
When asked about the benefits of medical cannabis, Hunt said although it is not a panacea, he described it as "a great tool in the tool box," and it should be treated as such. It also works wonders alongside holistic treatment.
″... But with that said, what we are seeing is we're seeing cannabis stop seizures," Hunt said. "We're seeing cannabis mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy. We're seeing veterans that are on dozens and dozens of medications be able to get off of those terrible medicines, and treat every symptom cluster of PTSD with medical cannabis. We are seeing patients that have chronic and debilitating pain be able to use cannabis to mitigate that pain and to overcome terrible ... bouts of pain or depression."
Hunt said to make this dispensary a reality, Natural State Healthcare must first secure an Arkansas Medical Marijuana Dispensary License from the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission. He described putting together the necessary materials for the application as the most daunting task of his life, but he believes it will be worth it.
"We welcome all the regulations because we believe with regulations comes legitimacy, and we want a legitimate industry," Hunt said. "We want to be able to have a place where patients feel comfortable and safe to come, and we want to offer products that they feel are safe, and in order to do that, we have to meet a lot of requirements."
A copy of the application on the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission website outlines the elements that need to be completed and submitted to be considered for a medical marijuana dispensary license.
Hunt said the commission will award five medical marijuana cultivation licenses in the state. The commission will award 32 total medical marijuana dispensary licenses, with a maximum of four within each of the eight geographic dispensary zones throughout the state. Natural State Healthcare is applying for a license in Zone 4.
"So while we're competing for a dispensary in the state, we're really competing for one of four dispensaries that are available in our zone," Hunt said.
Zone 4 consists of Crawford, Sebastian, Franklin, Logan, Johnson, Yell, Pope and Conway counties, according to a map on the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission website. The application copy states the deadline for the commission to receive applications for the license is Sept. 18. Hunt said Thursday Natural State Healthcare will turn in its application "in a matter of days."
″... What's going to happen is, depending how many people turn in, the commissioners, all five of them, they're going to grade the application," Hunt said. "If you look at the application, they've broken it up to where they're giving so many points. It's a merit-based system. You give them so many points based on different sections of the application. You get a hundred points all together. How it's going to shake down is whoever gets the top four scores wins the dispensary. ..."
Natural State Healthcare hopes it will not take the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission longer than a month to finish grading the applications, Hunt said.
"We're hoping sometime mid-October the commissioners will get done," Hunt said. "I don't see it them taking longer than mid-November to award the license, so we're hoping for mid-October, but it could be as long as mid-November before we know. ..."
Hunt does not anticipate the facility in Mulberry will be built and ready to sell medical cannabis products to patients before March or April 2018.
Natural State Healthcare purchased two acres of land on Industrial Park Drive in Mulberry for $60,000, Hunt said. This will be the site of the new facility should the license be obtained, with Natural State Healthcare planning to spend up to $1.5 million to build it. The previous owner of the land was D&D Capital Investments. The purchase was finalized in August.
Baxter said his desire for Mulberry is for it to be known as a great place to live and a healthy community.
"Now the medical marijuana dispensary is dispensing a product that will help people regain some health and a quality of life that they have not been able to experience using ... traditional medicine," Baxter said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Company eyes Mulberry for cannabis dispensary - News - Times Record - Fort Smith, AR
Author: Thomas Saccente
Contact: Contact - Fort Smith, AR - Times Record
Photo Credit: David Horemans
Website: Times Record: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Fort Smith, AR
Mulberry Mayor Gary Baxter said the city was approached by a company called Natural State Healthcare after the beginning of 2017, following the 2016 general election, during which Arkansas voters approved Issue 6 on the ballot. Listed with the popular name of "The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016," this made the medical use of marijuana legal under Arkansas state law.
Baxter said Natural State Healthcare was looking for a location for a medical cannabis processing plant and dispensary.
"And they said, 'We are looking at a location in Mulberry's industrial park,' which is already zoned for commercial and industrial," Baxter said. "... According to the state, cities and counties cannot discriminate against a medical marijuana dispensary, and it must be treated like any other pharmacy or any other business."
Baxter said he was told the facility would be dispensing suppositories, oils and other items to residents who have been certified by the state to purchase medical cannabis.
″... Not the recreational marijuana that makes people high, but the medical marijuana that gives people a better quality of life than they would have without this product," Baxter said.
According to results from the general election provided by the Crawford County Clerk's Office, 11,652 county voters voted in favor of Issue 6 while 10,553 voted against it.
Corey Hunt, the president and CEO of Natural State Healthcare, said the company is a group of medical professionals and medical cannabis experts that came together to create a care center environment, as well as a processing and compounding facility, to make products for medical cannabis patients in Arkansas. It was founded this year. Hunt is also the co-founder of Illegally Healed, a nonprofit organization that, according to its Facebook page, provides multimedia content related to cannabis science, patient testimonials and news.
Hunt said Natural State Healthcare has plans to build a 10,000-square-foot facility in Mulberry. It will be able to handle dispensing medical cannabis and education for medical cannabis patients. It will also have full extraction and compounding facilities. Different products will be developed to serve a wide variety of patients.
When asked about the benefits of medical cannabis, Hunt said although it is not a panacea, he described it as "a great tool in the tool box," and it should be treated as such. It also works wonders alongside holistic treatment.
″... But with that said, what we are seeing is we're seeing cannabis stop seizures," Hunt said. "We're seeing cannabis mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy. We're seeing veterans that are on dozens and dozens of medications be able to get off of those terrible medicines, and treat every symptom cluster of PTSD with medical cannabis. We are seeing patients that have chronic and debilitating pain be able to use cannabis to mitigate that pain and to overcome terrible ... bouts of pain or depression."
Hunt said to make this dispensary a reality, Natural State Healthcare must first secure an Arkansas Medical Marijuana Dispensary License from the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission. He described putting together the necessary materials for the application as the most daunting task of his life, but he believes it will be worth it.
"We welcome all the regulations because we believe with regulations comes legitimacy, and we want a legitimate industry," Hunt said. "We want to be able to have a place where patients feel comfortable and safe to come, and we want to offer products that they feel are safe, and in order to do that, we have to meet a lot of requirements."
A copy of the application on the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission website outlines the elements that need to be completed and submitted to be considered for a medical marijuana dispensary license.
Hunt said the commission will award five medical marijuana cultivation licenses in the state. The commission will award 32 total medical marijuana dispensary licenses, with a maximum of four within each of the eight geographic dispensary zones throughout the state. Natural State Healthcare is applying for a license in Zone 4.
"So while we're competing for a dispensary in the state, we're really competing for one of four dispensaries that are available in our zone," Hunt said.
Zone 4 consists of Crawford, Sebastian, Franklin, Logan, Johnson, Yell, Pope and Conway counties, according to a map on the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission website. The application copy states the deadline for the commission to receive applications for the license is Sept. 18. Hunt said Thursday Natural State Healthcare will turn in its application "in a matter of days."
″... What's going to happen is, depending how many people turn in, the commissioners, all five of them, they're going to grade the application," Hunt said. "If you look at the application, they've broken it up to where they're giving so many points. It's a merit-based system. You give them so many points based on different sections of the application. You get a hundred points all together. How it's going to shake down is whoever gets the top four scores wins the dispensary. ..."
Natural State Healthcare hopes it will not take the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission longer than a month to finish grading the applications, Hunt said.
"We're hoping sometime mid-October the commissioners will get done," Hunt said. "I don't see it them taking longer than mid-November to award the license, so we're hoping for mid-October, but it could be as long as mid-November before we know. ..."
Hunt does not anticipate the facility in Mulberry will be built and ready to sell medical cannabis products to patients before March or April 2018.
Natural State Healthcare purchased two acres of land on Industrial Park Drive in Mulberry for $60,000, Hunt said. This will be the site of the new facility should the license be obtained, with Natural State Healthcare planning to spend up to $1.5 million to build it. The previous owner of the land was D&D Capital Investments. The purchase was finalized in August.
Baxter said his desire for Mulberry is for it to be known as a great place to live and a healthy community.
"Now the medical marijuana dispensary is dispensing a product that will help people regain some health and a quality of life that they have not been able to experience using ... traditional medicine," Baxter said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Company eyes Mulberry for cannabis dispensary - News - Times Record - Fort Smith, AR
Author: Thomas Saccente
Contact: Contact - Fort Smith, AR - Times Record
Photo Credit: David Horemans
Website: Times Record: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Fort Smith, AR
