A Dying Southern Town Needed a Miracle. Marijuana Came Calling.

By Richard Fausset

COTTON PLANT, Ark. — Mayor Willard C. Ryland looked everywhere for salvation for his dying town. He tried luring a vegetable packing company. An Asian carp processor. A Dollar General store. But he struck out again and again.

Then came marijuana — and hope.

Arkansas voters decided in 2016 to legalize the plant for medical use, giving the state an opportunity both to develop a new industry and to address nagging social problems. The state’s licensing program encourages legal marijuana growers to set up shop where the new jobs are needed most, in perennially poor communities.

To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/24/us/arkansas-marijuana-cotton-plant.html