Carroll County is getting its first medical marijuana dispensary.
Osage Creek Dispensary, owned by Berryville resident Jay Trulove, received approval from the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission on Thursday, May 5, to transfer from its location in Fayetteville to 101 E. Van Buren near downtown Eureka Springs.
“We just think there’s a pretty large gap between [dispensaries] in Northwest Arkansas and Mountain Home,” Trulove said. “Folks are having to drive quite a ways to get their cannabis.
?“We think with Eureka Springs, Berryville, Harrison, Madison County, it’s just a good population base. There is definitely a need and I think it will be a good fit.”
Ray Green, an attorney representing Osage Creek, echoed those comments at last week’s meeting while answering questions from the commission before the vote.
“My client saw the opportunity to serve patients in Carroll and Madison counties,” Green told the commission. “Those patients could be better served by relocating the dispensary from west Fayetteville to Carroll County and thereby serve all those patients there that are currently having to travel to Washington and Benton county for their service.”
After the brief discussion, the commission voted unanimously to approve the transfer from the current location at 3970 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Fayetteville near the city limits of Farmington.
Trulove said he will be meeting soon with city officials in Eureka Springs to get any approvals necessary in preparation for the move. “We are requesting to meet with the may
“We are requesting to meet with the mayor and city council to make sure there aren’t any issues with where we want to move,” Trulove said. “[A timeline on the relocation] depends on the city as far as what they may require, plus the building will have several modifications needed.
“I do want to expedite things.”
Trulove said plans call for the dispensary to hire some local residents.
According to Scott Hardin, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, agents from the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control division will inspect the new Eureka Springs dispensary to ensure all required security measures are in place before opening. Additionally, agents will confirm the dispensary’s software communicates effectively with the state’s “seed to sale” tracking system.
Trulove purchased the dispensary from Kristin Rossi, Matt Stern and Patricia Johnson, a move that was approved by the commission in October 2021. The dispensary was formerly known as “Natural Root Wellness.”
According to Hardin, Osage Creek sold 285 pounds of medical marijuana through the first three months of 2022.
There are currently 38 dispensaries in operation across the state. After the transfer of Osage Creek to Eureka Springs, two dispensaries will remain in Fayetteville. Bentonville is also home to two dispensaries.
There are also eight licensed cultivators — including Osage Creek Cultivation in Berryville, which is owned by several Trulove family members — and four licensed processors of medical marijuana in the state.
“Folks are having to drive quite a ways to get their cannabis. … There is definitely a need and I think it will be a good fit.”
— Osage Creek Dispensary owner Jay Trulove
