“Giving more access to drugs, especially recreational access, does nothing to help or benefit Arkansans.”
Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas attorney
Contains medical marijuana It generated more than $1 billion since Arkansas 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 Department of Finance and Administration.
Tax revenue from those sales now supports free breakfast for public school students after lawmakers passed legislation last year.
Medical marijuana programs have expanded across the country, as has recreational marijuana. Two dozen states, including neighboring Missouri, allow recreational marijuana use, according to state legislatures.
Arkansas voters rejected an effort to legalize recreational marijuana in 2022despite the national teams spending millions in support of the measure.
Restrictions on marijuana have been relaxed at the federal level, and the US Department of Justice earlier this year downgraded the drug classification of medicinal cannabis.
Here’s what Arkansas’ gubernatorial candidates — Democratic State Sen. Fred Love, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Libertarian Colt Shelby — have to say about legalizing recreational marijuana.
Democratic State Sen. Fred Love
Love said he opposes legalization during a debate at the Arkansas Press Association’s annual conference in June.
Sitting in a crosswalk at her daughter’s school, Love said “marijuana is all over” as the children exited their 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 don’t think it’s something I support,” Love said. “I’ve seen the long-term impact.”
While he doesn’t personally support it, Love said he would support legalizing recreational marijuana if Arkansans voted on it.
Libertarian Colt Shelby
Shelby said he’s for whatever Arkansans want, so he would support legalizing recreational marijuana if voters approve.
Shelby said the state’s elected officials have forgotten what matters most is what Arkansans want, which is why she’s running for office.
Although Shelby says she doesn’t smoke weed herself, she says almost everyone knows it and she has the meds.
“It brings a lot of good things, so I won’t say that I’m against it, but let the people decide”, he said in the debate in June.
Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Sanders did not participate in the June debate, but said in an emailed statement that he does not support the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“Giving more access to drugs, especially recreational access, does nothing to help or benefit Arkansans,” Sanders said.
Sanders vetoed a law passed by the Legislature last year dispensaries have been allowed to deliver orders via a delivery vehicle or drive-through window.
The governor signed into law in 2023 the bill protecting the rights for medical marijuana patients and caregivers to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun.
In 2025, Sanders backed that uses medical marijuana revenue to support free breakfast for all public school students.
This story was first published by the Arkansas Advocate.