“You’ve seen countless billboards for Missouri and Oklahoma cannabis businesses, yet you’ve never seen one for an Arkansas dispensary. So you assume Arkansas must not have dispensaries.”
By Amanda Strickland, The Source Craft Cannabis
I was two sips into a mezcal cocktail at a bar in Bentonville, Arkansas—Walmart’s hometown—when a new friend said the six words that keep me awake at night: “I just drive to Missouri for cannabis.”
Because I have no filter, I responded, “You’re killing my business!”
She laughed, and I asked the real question: Why would a smart, well-traveled professional drive twenty-five minutes north to spend money at a dispensary chain when there’s a locally owned craft dispensary ten minutes from her house, with better product, better prices and established community give-back programs?
The answer: “I didn’t know The Source existed.”
Then the follow-up: “Getting a medical marijuana patient card in Arkansas seems hard.”
I’ve had this conversation with hundreds of Northwest Arkansans, and my field research has revealed an unfortunate truth: my friend is not an outlier. She is the average Arkansan.
Arkansas voters approved a medical-only cannabis program in 2016. Nearly a decade later, many Arkansans, particularly those who live near states with more
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