LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas medical marijuana sales have recently surpassed $400 million and more than 59,000 pounds in sales, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

Arkansas is close to reaching $50M in tax collections from the state’s medical marijuana industry as around $47M has been collected since the industry launched in 2019. Over half that amount of $47M was collected in just 2021 with $23M collected since Jan. 1, 2021.

The taxes that apply when a patient makes a purchase at a dispensary are a regular state sales tax at 6.5% and a privilege tax at 4.0%.

The state sales tax revenue is distributed to a variety of state agencies and services while the privilege tax goes to UAMS for the National Cancer Institute.

Patients have purchased more than 3,200 pounds of medical marijuana in August 2021.

There are currently 36 dispensaries in operation throughout Arkansas.

The Arkansas Department of Health reports that 79,607 active patient cards have been administered.

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission will meet Thursday, September 16 at 4:30 pm. The meeting can be viewed via an Arkansas PBS live stream HERE.