Missouri: Market and legal data analysis of the cannabis sector

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.
15th May 2023: US - Missouri: House Bill 202 has passed the Senate and now heads to the governor’s desk. The bill would repeal the Industrial Hemp Regulatory Program in Missouri after the state turned the regulatory authority for hemp cultivation over to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the beginning of the year.
23rd March 2023: US - Missouri: House Bill 644, which would erase obsolete provisions allowing hemp extract for the treatment of epilepsy, has passed the House and now moves to the Senate. The law has become obsolete in light of changes to the state’s hemp and cannabis laws.
6th February 2023: US - Missouri: Recreational cannabis sales have begun in Missouri, press reports. Nearly all medical cannabis dispensaries applied to be allowed to sell recreational cannabis as well, and rules to allow those licensees to begin sales took effect on 3rd February. Voters passed a ballot initiative to legalise recreational cannabis in November.
23rd January 2023: US - Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued proposed rules on recreational cannabis that will take effect on 3rd February. The HHS will then begin approving or denying requests by medical cannabis dispensaries to also dispense recreational cannabis, and accepting applications from adults (21+) to cultivate cannabis at home.
18th November 2022: US - Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has released draft rules to regulate recreational cannabis in response to the voter-passed initiative to legalise cannabis in the state. The draft rules are open for public comment until 25th November. Although the draft rules exclude hemp from the definition of "marijuana", broad language used in the rules might implicate hemp-derived THC, as one draft rule states that THC in products could only come from a licensed marijuana cultivator and bans the sale of products that contain "chemical modification, conversion, or synthetic derivation of intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol isomers, including delta8, delta-9, and delta-10".

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