Missouri: Market and legal data analysis of the cannabis sector

19th September 2024: US - Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) will not designate any more intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid (IHDC) products as adulterated, as ordered by a recent decree by the governor to ban the products. Governor Mike Parson issued an executive order in August to ban products containing IHDCs like delta-8 THC, but the Missouri Hemp Trade Association filed a lawsuit to stop enforcement actions against those products, press reports. Therefore, the DHSS will not embargo any more IHDC products for being adulterated going forward, and those products already embargoed will be released by the state attorney general’s office within 30 days.
3rd September 2024: US - Missouri: The Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) has issued a cannabis recall notice saying that the recalled products were not compliantly tracked in the statewide track-and-trace system (Metrc). Consumers who purchased the recalled items are advised to discontinue use immediately. Any remaining products should be discarded or returned to the dispensary where they were purchased. The division has provided two Excel sheets listing the recalled products. The first one is a “product recall list”, which contains identifiers used by manufacturers to track the products. The second is a “consumer recall list”, which includes numbers customers are more likely to see on their products.
26th August 2024: US - Missouri: Missouri secretary of state Jay Ashcroft blocked governor Michael Parson’s emergency order banning unregulated hemp-derived intoxicating food products, saying that the proposed order did not meet legal requirements. Recreational and medical marijuana are both legal in Missouri, but the governor’s executive order was aimed at particular THC compounds that are not regulated, including delta-8. The order was supposed to take effect on 1st September, pending Ashcroft’s approval of the emergency rules, and now that will likely be delayed for at least six months, Parson said in a letter. Parson has said a ban on hemp-derived THC products is necessary because children have mistaken them for candy. He further said that he ordered the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control to resubmit the emergency rule on hemp-derived THC.
19th August 2024: US - Missouri: The Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) issued cannabis recall notices last week involving 135,000 cannabis products. The first notice involves 2,650 products and has to do with the products being tested too soon in the process. “The recalled marijuana products were not compliantly tested prior to being sold to patients and consumers. The recalled marijuana product was tested at the unprocessed bud/flower stage rather than being tested at the final marijuana product stage,” the notice states. The second notice lists about 133,000 products, which regulators said were not properly tracked in Metrc, the state’s tracing system.
2nd August 2024: US - Missouri: Governor Michael Parson has issued an executive order demanding that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) deems food products containing “unregulated psychoactive cannabis products” as “deleterious, poisonous, and adulterated” and, therefore, illegal. Specifically, the order includes foods containing delta-8 and delta-10 THC, HHC, tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (THCO), tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) and “other similar compounds” but exempts cannabis products that are legally produced and regulated by the Division of Cannabis Regulation. The governor calls on the DHHS to do so by 1st September. The order itself does not appear to have the legal effect of banning these products, though, as it merely orders the DHHS to ban them. Therefore, action by the DHHS is likely necessary to effectuate the ban.
22nd April 2024: US - Missouri: In response to concerns over the safety of certain hemp products, Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey has launched a consumer protection investigation. His office has issued civil investigative demands (CIDs) to a handful of businesses, with two targeting hemp manufacturers and retailers alleging that the companies may have engaged in illegal means to market and sell these products to Missourians. “This investigation will inquire into the activities and representations of certain sellers in connection with the manufacturing, sale, marketing, advertisement, promotion, and/or distribution of products containing CBD, Delta-8, and Delta-9 THC,” the CID reads. Bailey believes that these companies have used deception, fraud, false promise, misrepresentation and unfair practice in connection with the sale or advertisement of CBD and delta-8 and delta-9 THC products.
19th December 2023: US - Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) conducted a review of the 48 cannabis social equity licences it has issued to determine eligibility and concluded that 11 such licences could be revoked for not meeting equity licensing qualifications. Those 11 licensees have 30 days to provide adequate documentation of eligibility before having their licences revoked.
3rd October 2023: US - Missouri: Missouri’s Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) issued 48 marijuana microbusiness licences, thus expanding the state’s legal cannabis market. The licensees were chosen based on a lottery that took place on 28th August. Six licensees - four wholesale facility licensees and two dispensary licensees – were chosen for each of Missouri’s congressional districts. Forty-eight more licences will be distributed in both 2024 and 2025.
16th August 2023: US - Missouri: State auditor Scott Fitzpatrick has launched an audit into the state’s medical and recreational cannabis programmes, press reports. It is not yet clear what the intent of the audit is, but it is reportedly not a routine one. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, has previously voiced concerns over, among other things, a “government-mandated monopoly” for medical licensees since the state allows them to automatically convert to comprehensive licences, which encompass activities for both medical and recreational cannabis.
11th July 2023: US - Missouri: Governor Mike Parson has signed House Bill 202 into law, repealing the Industrial Hemp Regulatory Program. The state had already transferred regulatory authority for hemp cultivation to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the beginning of the year.
10th July 2023: US - Missouri: Governor Mike Parson has signed Senate Bills 186 and 63, enabling any licensed or certified cannabis facility to request a state agency to share the entity's application, licence, or other regulatory and financial information with a banking institution. The facility must provide a written request and waiver, authorising the transfer of data and waiving confidentiality or privilege. State and local licensing authorities can also share this information with the banking institution's supervisory agencies.
16th May 2023: US - Missouri: Both chambers of the General Assembly have passed two bills that would ease cannabis businesses’ banking access. Senate Bills 186 and 63 would both allow any licensed or certified cannabis facility to request a state agency to share their licensing and inspection information with financial institutions. Both are now on Republican governor Mike Parson’s desk.

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