On Aug. 30, Natural State of Kind submitted its application for medical cannabis cultivation and dispensary licenses in Arkansas.
Natural State of Kind CEO Jason Martin said he appreciated the way state employees handled the process: “I wish to express our gratitude to Mary Robin Casteel and her staff at the ABC for their professionalism and thoroughness during the initial application review. Things are very busy around their office as the September 18th deadline approaches, and I expect activity will increase exponentially as the application submission deadline approaches. These applications require a lot of information, which requires an extensive amount of time on behalf of applicants to assemble, and on behalf of the ABC to review. Their staff have been tasked with a monumental responsibility and their role is critical to this process — not only to the State of Arkansas, but for the soon-to-be-thousands of medical cannabis patients. Like many of us applying for a license, the staff at the ABC works incredibly hard and long hours to get this process right.”
Prior to applying for a medical cannabis cultivation facility or dispensary license, all applicants require a criminal background check performed by the Arkansas State Police.
“I visited the state police headquarters on three occasions during this process, and despite an overwhelming volume of work ahead of them, staff members remained professional and upbeat,” Martin said. “The application process also requires a visit to the Arkansas Department of Finance to pay application fees, and similar to my experience with the ABC and state police, despite being tasked with completing this process for the first time, I was greeted with positive attitudes and smiling faces as their staff made the best of a chaotic time and situation. It’s the little things like these one does not experience everywhere, and which make me so proud to be an Arkansan.
“There were hundreds of hours of labor involved in the building of our applications. Even though our owners and staff are seasoned in this industry and currently operate in over six states, the process is still laborious to get right. We are thrilled to see our dreams coming to fruition and hope to soon be a part of the medical cannabis industry in our home state. We hope the industry knowledge and experience we have acquired over the last five years will benefit us locally.
“We could not have achieved what we have today without a very hard-working group of professionals that I am proud to be part of: Natural State of Kind, hopefully coming soon to a community near you.”
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