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The Alcoholic Beverage Control will investigate claims made against companies picked to grow medical marijuana in Arkansas.
14 complaints against those companies were submitted to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission earlier this year. The protest letters were submitted by companies that were not selected to grow the medical marijuana.
The letters include complaints that accuse companies of corruption, that the process was inconsistent, and that the facilities chosen didn’t follow the rules set for where they could be located.
Scott Hardin, a spokesperson with the Department of Finance, said that only eight of the complaints would be investigated.
Hardin said that officials with Alcoholic Beverage Control will not review six of the protest letters that dealt with the review and scoring of cultivation facility applications.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control in Arkansas can only investigate the claims that companies provided false statements during the application process.
Storm Nolan, an applicant from Fort Smith whose cultivation facility, “River Valley Relief,” is a runner-up on the list. At last month’s commission meeting, Nolan told 40/29 News that he feels the commissioners haven’t been “forthcoming” when discussing their response to the protest letters.
He and his brother have also applied for a dispensary license in Fort Smith.
The vote to make medical marijuana legal in Arkansas passed in November 2016. The state expects it to be made available for the first time in March 2019.
The commission is scheduled to meet on Wednesday Nov. 28 in Little Rock on Wednesday.
Owners with each of the five selected cultivation facilities have been asked to attend and to provide an update to the commission on their progress.
