Regulators in Arkansas have revoked a medical cannabis cultivation license following a court ruling earlier this month.
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission Director Doralee Chandler revoked the license, which belonged to Fort Smith-based River Valley Relief, in a procedural action Nov. 28, according to a local KUAR report. The action comes after Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herb Wright issued a ruling Nov. 3 that upholds a claim by 2600 Holdings that regulators granted the license in error in July 2020, the news outlet reported.
2600 Holdings filed the lawsuit in January 2021, asking the court to disqualify River Valley Relief and instead grant the license to 2600 or offer another form of relief under the Arkansas Administrative Procedures Act, according to KUAR.
2600 argued that the Medical Marijuana Commission unlawfully issued the cultivation license to Storm Nolan, River Valley Relief’s owner, during the state’s second round of cultivation licensing, the news outlet reported.
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The plaintiff alleged that granting Nolan the license was illegal because the incorporation in Nolan’s first application was no longer valid, according to KUAR. In addition, 2600 claimed that Nolan’s proposed cultivation site was too close to the Sebastian County Juvenile Detention Center, violating a provision in Arkansas’ medical cannabis law that requires the operations to be at least 3,000 feet away from a school, church or daycare, the news outlet reported.
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, which houses the Medical Marijuana Commission, filed a 36-page rebuttal, according to KUAR, while Wright blocked Nolan from participating in the case.
Wright said in his ruling that 2600 proved it should be provided relief and that regulators acted outside their authority when they issued River Valley Relief a medical cannabis cultivation license, the news outlet reported.
At the Nov. 28 hearing, where Chandler revoked River Valley Relief’s license, Nolan and his attorney, Matthew Horan, claimed that while the original location for the cultivation facility was within 2,400 feet of the Sebastian County Juvenile Detention Center, there is no evidence to suggest that the facility is operated by a public school, KUAR reported. Horan added that the Arkansas Department of Education issued a letter stating that the detention center was not a school, according to the news outlet.
River Valley Relief has appealed the ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court, KUAR reported.
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