The owner of a Hot Springs dispensary whose license was revoked last month amid accusations of “reckless endangerment of cannabis patients” will plead his case before state regulators next week.
Dragan Vicentic, owner of Green Springs Medical, is set to go before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at 9 a.m. on June 12, according to the board’s agenda.
A letter from ABC Director Christy Bjornson to Vicentic on May 2 detailed a litany of violations at the facility, including the inability to locate certain cannabis items in its inventory, having an unsanitary facility, failure to cooperate with ABC enforcement, failure to label products properly, and the sale of more than 1,800 products with expired lab tests.
“There is no suitable fine that can correct or otherwise control [Green Springs Medical’s] reckless endangerment of cannabis patients,” Bjornson said in the letter. “The only available remedy is to revoke [the permit.]”
The order marked the first revocation of a dispensary license since the state medical marijuana program started in 2019.
Vicentic appealed the decision, which caused the order to be stayed and allowed the dispensary to stay open until the case could be heard by the ABC board.
Vicentic can appeal a ruling by the ABC board to circuit court.
Bjornson’s revocation letter last month says that on August 3, 2023, ABC enforcement agents took pictures of the facility’s processing area and noted it was cluttered and contained “debris.” Agents had warned Vicentic on March 29, 2023, that the conditions were unsanitary, “yet the conditions remained filthy,” the letter says.
During the August 3 inspection, Vicentic “expressed frustration” with the agents and was “slamming inventory on his counters” during the inspection.
On August 3, ABC agents explained to Vicentic that quality assurance test dates expire after one year and that the products must be retested. The dispensary continued to sell products with expired lab tests and patients complained on social media about “two-year-old products.” In October, an undercover agent purchased a product with a quality assurance test from June 21, 2022, the letter says. That same month, undercover ABC agents purchased 3.51 grams of Funky Charms cannabis flower that was not labeled with testing dates.
The dispensary recorded more than 1,800 sales of expired products after it was issued a warning to stop on August 3. On January 30, agents inspected the facility, and the dispensary was unable to produce more than 500 items with expired tests that had previously been in the facility’s inventory. Vicentic admitted the items had “all been sold,” the letter said.
Vicentic has tangled with other members of the state medical marijuana industry, alleging that some cultivators were colluding to put him out of business. From 2019 to 2021, he was involved in a legal battle with Bruce Simpson, at the time his partner in Green Springs. A circuit court found Simpson owned half of the business, and the state Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. Simpson and Vicentic later reached an undisclosed settlement that resulted in Vicentic owning 100% of the business.
Vicentic did not immediately return a message seeking comment.