Posted by Nancy Moraa on 08/07/2020 in News
Five new medical marijuana-infused product manufacturing licenses got issued in Missouri. The licenses required the cannabis business to make processed medical weed products.
The licenses first got issued in January. The regulators noted that some companies received many licenses for one facility. So the duplicate licenses got reissued to applicants next in line.
According to a report by KY3.com, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services(DHSS) issued the new medical cannabis manufacturing licenses on July 24. DHSS first licensed 86 facilities back in January. The licenses allow them to manufacture cannabis-infused products like edibles, tinctures and concentrates. DHSS later found out that some of those companies submitted duplicate applications. These companies then got multiple licenses for one facility.
To act on the matter, the DHSS has merged all the duplicate licenses. It then awarded five new licenses to applicants who hadn’t received their licenses and were next in line. The license holders are:
KY3.com reported that with the issuance of those five new licenses, the state has now licensed the minimum number of manufacturers required per Missouri’s medical cannabis law.
According to Missouri DHSS, the move is not for fending off lawsuits from any would-be Missouri cannabis business. The move was to ensure that the minimum number of marijuana manufacturing licenses called for by the state constitution got used.
“Applicants for infused product manufacturing licenses “submitted duplicative applications for licensure,” said the state health department in a Friday news release.
There were two proposed manufacturing facilities in the St. Louis region. There is one location in the southeast of Kansas City. Each facility applied for two or more licenses covering a single proposed site.
The state authorities said submitting these “duplicative” applications were legal. But they also stated only one facility could utilize one license.
For that reason, the state health department merged the redundant licenses. It then issued five new licenses to the companies next in line.
The list came about based on how well companies scored during the state’s controversial license application process. The licensing process sparked pointed accusations of conflicts of interest. Issues from Missouri lawmakers, members of the grass-roots cannabis community, and the marijuana business interests arose.
According to Lisa Cox, state health department spokesperson, the state authorities thoroughly checked the marijuana business license applications before awarding the companies’ licenses in December and January.
The applications received were 2,200 from hundreds of companies. The applications competed for just 348 commercial marijuana business licenses.
“Many licensees share the same address; this is expected and not prohibited,” Cox said in an email. “During the application period, locations got examined. They got checked for whether they meet applicable standards for licensure. Things such as distance from churches, schools, and daycares got checked.”
Lyndall Fraker, a former Marshfield-area lawmaker who currently serves a director of Missouri MMJ program, said, “Our team is working hard to verify that each licensee complies with the standards for licensure. Each facility must implement what they proposed in their application.”
It was a very controversial licensing issue, but it was resolved amid a lot of conflicts in the end. Weed news platforms had something to say as well as any interested party. In the end, Missouri DHSS did its job as best as it could.
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