Arkansas: Average daily medical marijuana sales climb to $600,000

Medical marijuana sales from Aug. 21 through Wednesday ticked up compared to the last reporting period, according to the sales report the state revenue agency released Friday.

Daily sales during the 20-day period that ended Wednesday were $600,000 on average. The daily sales average during the 16-day reporting period that ended Aug. 20 was $592,000. The Department of Finance and Administration said the 29 dispensaries in operation during the most recent reporting period averaged $20,698 in daily sales.

About $12 million in sales from 1,766 pounds sold was reported during the 20-day period. Since the state's first legal sale of the drug in May 2019 in Garland County, dispensaries have reported $143 million in sales from 22,530 pounds sold. More than half the sales revenue occurred in the past four months.

Suite 443, where the first legal sale of the drug in Arkansas was transacted last year, was third in sales for the second-straight reporting period. It reported 119.52 pounds sold for the 20-day period that ended Wednesday. The Malvern Avenue dispensary in unincorporated Garland County was second in sales during the 21-day period that ended Aug. 4 and fourth during the 19-day period that ended July 14.

Green Springs Medical, the only dispensary in Hot Springs' city limits, ranked 11th with 71.4 pounds sold. It was the daily sales average leader for more than a year, but as more dispensaries have come online its market share has shrunk.

Green Springs was third in sales during the 19-day period that ended July 14, eighth during the 21-day period that ended Aug. 4 and 12th during the 16-day period that ended Aug. 20.

It was one of the first dispensaries to open, and its more than 3,100 pounds in reported sales is the most of any dispensary.

The Releaf Center in Bentonville led the latest sales report with 182.59 pounds. Natural Relief in Sherwood ranked second, reporting 154.53 pounds sold. Plant Family Therapeutics in Mountain Home was fourth with 118.83 pounds in reported sales.

The Tax Procedure Act prohibits the state from releasing revenue figures for individual dispensaries.

The Arkansas Department of Health had approved 80,314 medical marijuana patient cards as of Friday, a 6% increase from three weeks earlier.