North Arkansas dispensary reports busy summer months

HARDY, Ark. (KAIT) - At a medical marijuana dispensary in North Arkansas, business is booming.

In August, Arkansans purchased a total of 4,245 pounds of medical marijuana in the state.

According to the Arkansas Department of Health, 90,5770 medical marijuana ID cards are distributed.

Spring River Dispensary opened in January of 2021.

Owner Renee Clay Circle says the entire process has been a learning one but thinks the company is headed in the right direction.

Lucas Collins is a manager at the dispensary, and he says the business has been excellent during the recent travel months.

“We’re a tourist town, so most of our sales come during the summer and springtime,” said Collins. “Overall it has gotten better with the market in general. Prices are going down, meaning the consumer gets better prices.”

In two of the summer months, the dispensary was among the top sellers in Arkansas.

“In June and July, we were #13 in the state for medical marijuana sales, which is pretty big, considering we’ve been open since last January,” said Collins.

A patient at the dispensary says the last two years have been extremely stressful, and the medical benefits of cannabis have been a great help to her.

Sarah Banta is a psychologist on staff at SRD, she says more and more people are realizing how medical marijuana can help them.

“Since transitioning over here to the medical cannabis industry, I’ve seen a lot of those patients get their medical cards, and I’ve seen that they have a better quality of life and are getting a lot more relief than they ever did with opioids, so it’s been really rewarding to see that,” said Banta.

Spring River Dispensary said they’ve averaged around 12 new customers per day over the past 90 days.

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