John SchroyerMedical marijuana prices in Arkansas have come down over the last year, even as registered patients consume ever more of their medicine, according to the latest state data.
Last month, Arkansas medical cannabis patients spent $22.9 million on 6,467 pounds of products at the state’s 37 dispensaries, bringing sales totals for the 2024 year to date to $158.5 million, the state Department of Finance and Administration reported.
Although the volume sold for the year so far – now up to 42,602 pounds – is a year-over-year increase, the actual sales numbers are down for the same timeframe by $6.1 million from $164.6 million, the agency said in a press release. The new totals come after the state sold $22.9 million worth of medical cannabis in May, and $21.7 million in June.
“Since the first dispensary opened in 2019, Arkansans have spent approximately $1.2 billion on medical marijuana purchases,” department spokesman Scott Hardin said in a statement. “Although the overall spend has decreased since last year, we continue to see pounds sold increase, indicating lower prices.”
In an earlier half-year report issued in July, the agency also noted that “while the overall spend decreased, total pounds purchased increased from year to year.”
The volume sold has stayed above the 6,000-pound mark for at least the past three months, up a bit from the first quarter of the year.
At the end of July, the state had 105,544 active medical marijuana patient cards.
The top seller for much of the year has been Suite 443 in the town of Hot Springs, about an hour southwest from Little Rock. The dispensary sold 731 pounds of cannabis in July, and another 1,818 pounds between April and June, according to state figures.
By comparison, the runner up for April to June was Natural Relief Dispensary, which sold 1,709 pounds. And in July, many of the other Arkansas dispensaries didn’t even break the 100-pound sales mark.
