LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Arkansas has chosen a Boston-based consultant to grade the more than 200 applications for the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary licenses.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Public Consulting Group Inc. was one of just two companies to respond to the state’s request issued to 30 companies that could grade the cannabis-vending proposals.
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission decided to outsource dispensary license scoring to a third-party group after a controversial cultivation licensing process earlier this year. Commissioners graded 83 proposals for five available growing licenses, but a wave of unsuccessful applicants had alleged commissioner bias, scoring errors and regulators’ failure to verify claims made in applications.
Public Consulting Group must submit the final scores 30 days after receiving the applications. The group will be paid about $99,500.
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