“Giving more access to drugs—particularly recreational access—does nothing to help or benefit Arkansans.”
By Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
Medical marijuana has generated more than $1 billion in Arkansas since voters legalized it in 2016.
After the state opened its first dispensary in 2019, thousands of Arkansans joined the program and spent a record $291.1 million on medical marijuana in 2025, according to the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.
Tax revenue from those sales now supports free breakfast for public school students, following approval of legislation by lawmakers last year.
Medical marijuana programs have expanded across the country, as has recreational marijuana. Two dozen states, including neighboring Missouri, permit recreational marijuana use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Arkansas voters in 2022 rejected an effort to expand legalization to recreational marijuana, despite national groups spending millions in support of the measure.
Restrictions on marijuana have relaxed at the federal level, with the U.S. Department of Justice downgrading the drug classification for medical cannabis earlier this year.
Here’s what Arkansas’s gubernatorial candidates—Democratic state Sen. Fred Love, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Libertarian Colt Shelby—say about legalizing recreational marijuana.
Democratic state Sen. Fred Love
Love said he’s against legalization during a debate at the Arkansas Press Association’s annual convention in June.
While sitting at a crosswalk at his daughter’s school, Love said “marijuana’s just all over” as children exit vehicles. When you grow up in a community where recreational marijuana is present, you see that it doesn’t always have a positive effect, he said.
“I just don’t think that it is something that I can support,” Love said. “I have seen the long-term impact of it.”
While he doesn’t personally favor it, Love said he would support legalizing recreational marijuana if Arkansans vote for it at the polls.
Libertarian Colt Shelby
Shelby said he’s for whatever Arkansans want, so he would support legalizing recreational marijuana if voters approved it.
Shelby said the state’s elected officials have forgotten that what matters most is what Arkansans want, and that’s why he’s running for office.
Though Shelby said he doesn’t smoke marijuana himself, he said almost everyone knows someone who does and it does have medicinal uses.
“There’s a lot of good things that it brings, so I’m not going to say I’m against it, but let the people decide,” he said during the June debate.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Sanders did not attend the June debate, but she said in an emailed statement she does not support legalizing recreational marijuana.
“Giving more access to drugs—particularly recreational access—does nothing to help or benefit Arkansans,” Sanders said.
Sanders last year vetoed a law approved by the Legislature that would have allowed dispensaries to deliver orders via a delivery vehicle or drive-through window.
The governor in 2023 signed into law legislation that protects the rights of medical marijuana patients and caregivers to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun.
In 2025, Sanders backed legislation that uses medical marijuana revenue to support free breakfast for all public school students.
This story was first published by Arkansas Advocate.
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