Commission won’t consider Jacksonville dispensary proposal this month

State regulators won’t consider whether to allow a Little Rock medical marijuana dispensary to move to Jacksonville at its meeting next week, although the request could make a return next month. 

Greenlight Little Rock, located at 7303 Kanis Road, had requested to move to 7418 T.P. White Drive in Jacksonville. The potential relocation has simmered since late last year when a pair of state legislators from Cabot sent letters to the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission saying they would be opposed to a dispensary being located in their city. 

Early this year, Jacksonville Mayor Jeff Elmore helped Greenlight officials identify a site in Jacksonville, near its border with Cabot, and has championed the dispensary and its potential tax revenue.

Sherwood Mayor Mary Jo Heye-Townsell opposes the move, saying it would be bad for Sherwood, which is home to one of the state’s top-selling dispensaries. Townsell has said protecting Natural Relief Dispensary, about 13 miles south of the proposed Jacksonville site, is an important economic issue for the city. 

Michael Goswami, Greenlight Little Rock’s attorney, asked state regulatory staff yesterday to table the issue for “an additional month,” suggesting the company could ask the commission to consider the matter in September. 

The commission also won’t consider a request by Good Day Farm Hensley, in south Pulaski County, to move to 510 Highway 5 North in Benton after its attorney asked to withdraw the request. Goswami, who also represents Good Day Farm Hensley, asked that the item be tabled “for this month.” 

The commission will consider Greenlight Helena’s request to move to 101 Industrial Drive in Brinkley. Greenlight Helena had requested a move to Stuttgart before the dispensary pulled the request amid community opposition. 

The commission will also consider a change of ownership at Enlightened Cannabis for People in Heber Springs. Danny Brown, a part owner of BOLD Team cultivation in Cotton Plant, would become the sole owner of the dispensary. The current owners are Dr. Regina Thurman (55%), Josh Landers (25%), Marshall Wright (19%) and Sandra Garcia (1%). 
Last month, the commission held off on considering a change to the Heber Springs dispensary’s ownership. The dispensary has been at the heart of a complicated legal matter involving Wright and former law partners Alex Gray and Nate Steel who are executives with Good Day Farm.