Last verified: May 2026
Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Searcy)
Sen. Jonathan Dismang is the chief Senate budget writer and the lead sponsor of SB 59 / Act 122 of 2025 (the Food Insecurity Fund / school-breakfast statute). Dismang’s approach to Arkansas cannabis policy is fiscally pragmatic: capture the tax revenue, direct it to politically valuable programs, defend the program structure that produces the revenue. Dismang has not signaled an interest in expanding the medical program (qualifying conditions, home grow, etc.), but he has been one of the most consistent defenders of the existing program against legislators interested in narrowing it. Searcy is a small Faulkner-County-adjacent town; Dismang is a moderate-pragmatic Republican.
Sen. Joshua Bryant (R-Rogers)
Sen. Joshua Bryant filed SJR 13 in 2023 attempting to put a legislatively referred recreational legalization measure on the 2024 ballot — with home-grow and craft cultivation. The resolution did not advance. Bryant also sponsored HB 1889 in 2025, the dispensary drive-through bill. Gov. Sanders vetoed HB 1889. Bryant is one of the few legislatively-curious-about-recreational Arkansas Republicans — from Rogers in Northwest Arkansas, where recreational acceptance is highest among Arkansas Republican constituencies.
Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Knoxville)
Rep. Aaron Pilkington is a longtime cannabis-pragmatic Republican from a small town in central Arkansas. Pilkington co-sponsored HB 1889 (drive-through dispensary bill) and has consistently been one of the most pro-medical-expansion voices in the Republican caucus. Pilkington has spoken at industry conferences and Marijuana Policy Project events; his framing is libertarian-conservative ("the government should not be deciding what medicine adults can buy after a doctor recommends it") more than progressive. His district is moderately conservative; his cannabis stance has not been a notable political liability.
Rep. Zack Gramlich (R-Fort Smith)
Rep. Zack Gramlich is a middle-school teacher who co-sponsored SB 59 / Act 122 of 2025. His co-sponsorship of the school-breakfast funding statute reflects a coalition of fiscally-pragmatic Republicans willing to use cannabis tax revenue for politically-popular programs.
Sen. Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs)
Sen. Tyler Dees is the principal author of Arkansas’s hemp-intoxicant ban — sponsor of both Act 629 of 2023 (SB 358) and Act 934 of 2025. Dees’s framing is public-health-and-law-enforcement: that hemp-derived intoxicants like delta-8 THC should be regulated as controlled substances under state law, not freely sold in convenience stores. The Eighth Circuit’s July 2025 reversal of the Bio Gen federal injunction vindicated Dees’s legislative theory. Siloam Springs is on the Oklahoma border; the cross-border drive economy informs Dees’s constituency-level interest in cannabis-policy enforcement.
Rep. David Whitaker (D-Fayetteville)
Rep. David Whitaker is the most consistent Democratic-caucus voice for cannabis reform in Arkansas. From Fayetteville (Washington County, Northwest Arkansas), Whitaker has supported expansion of the medical program, decriminalization of small-amount possession, and racial-disparity-focused criminal-justice reform. Democratic-caucus capacity is structurally limited (19 of 100 in the House, 6 of 35 in the Senate); Whitaker’s role is largely to shape minority-party messaging and to ally with Republican pragmatists like Pilkington on bipartisan reform efforts.
Sen. Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs) — Senate President
Sen. Bart Hester is the Senate President — the chamber’s presiding officer and one of the most consequential figures in setting the cannabis-policy agenda for the 2027 session. Per January 2026 Arkansas Advocate reporting, Hester has signaled he may use the December 2025 Edgmon ruling to "review" Amendment 98 directly. The specific contours of any such review remain undefined. Hester’s role as Senate President means his agenda-setting power over cannabis legislation is substantial.
Speaker of the House & Senate Leadership
The full House and Senate leadership (Speaker, Majority Leaders, Minority Leaders, committee chairs) all influence cannabis-policy agenda-setting through committee assignments and floor scheduling. As of May 2026, no specific cannabis-amendment proposals have been pre-filed for the 2027 session, but multiple legislators have indicated they may file Amendment 98 amendments under the new Edgmon doctrine.
Former Champion: Rep. Allen Peake (R, Former)
Note: Some Arkansas history references the late Rep. Allen Peake, a former Republican legislator who was a longtime medical-cannabis champion before retiring from the General Assembly. Peake’s legislative legacy contributed to the political climate that made Amendment 98 viable in 2016.
Sen. Bill Cowsert — Pro-Medical-Expansion Voice (Republican)
Sen. Bill Cowsert is among the Republican legislators who have voiced support for medical-cannabis program expansion, including the addition of qualifying conditions and the expansion of certifying providers. As of May 2026 no Cowsert-led amendment to expand the program has cleared the General Assembly.
The Initiative Process — Increasingly Constrained
A series of statutes from 2023–2025 — and the December 2025 Edgmon reversal — have substantially raised the bar for citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. New requirements include canvasser residency, photo-ID requirements at signing, expanded notarization, an enlarged county-distribution requirement, and stricter ballot-title-review standards. A federal lawsuit challenging several of these provisions is pending. The Save AR Democracy initiative attempted to roll some of these back; it failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot. Full coverage on the Edgmon Reversal page.
2027 Session Watch List
- Whether Hester or other Senate Republicans introduce a constitutional amendment to alter Amendment 98 directly.
- Whether the privilege-tax rate is raised above its current 4% (potentially driving more revenue into the SB 59 Food Insecurity Fund).
- Whether Bryant, Pilkington, or other recreational-curious Republicans return with a 2028-ballot legislative referral.
- Whether the federal-rescheduling proceeding (Schedule III) finalizes during the 2027 session, potentially altering the political calculus.
For in-depth cannabis education, dosing guides, safety information, and research summaries, visit our partner site TryCannabis.org
Related on this site: Arkansas Issue 3 (2024), Arkansas Issue 4 (2022), Arkansas Cannabis Politics.