Tag: Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri officials have green-lighted using proceeds from a 3 percent municipal tax on marijuana to fund a violence prevention program in the city. The City Council on Thursday approved a proposal to put $458,000 in proceeds from the local cannabis tax, which voters approved in April, toward the city’s Aim4Peace initiative, which works with local communities and survivors of violent crime. All told, the city estimates it should make roughly $3 million each year from legal sales after the tax… Read more.

The Missouri medical cannabis company that had nearly 63,000 products recalled last month lost its bid to stop the recall after a Cole County Circuit judge on Thursday dismissed the case, KMIZ reports. The judge ruled that Delta Extraction, LLC did not exhaust administrative remedies and that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the complaint.    The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) had issued the recall because the products were not tracked by the state’s seed-to-sale-tracking system, METRC, and that the agency could… Read more.

Foster parents in Missouri can now legally possess and grow marijuana in their homes under an emergency rule filed last week by the state Department of Social Services. Consuming cannabis in a manner that emits smoke or vapor, however, is still not allowed inside the house. Missouri voters in November 2022 passed a ballot initiative, Amendment 3, to legalize and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and older, allowing the purchase and possession of up to three ounces of cannabis and,… Read more.

New rules implemented in Missouri allow regulators to instruct the state’s certified cannabis testing laboratories to double check the work of other labs – an effort to cut down on so-called ‘lab shopping,’ the Missouri Independent reports. Under the regulations, the state will, up to 10 times a year, instruct labs to test cannabis samples tested by another lab. Then the state will review the test results to make sure they have similar results in THC potency, and that one lab isn’t… Read more.

Missouri’s marijuana businesses will have fewer obstacles when it comes to accessing banking, but they must now get fingerprint background checks from all their new employees and contractors, under legislation that Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed on Thursday. Few banks nationwide serve cannabis businesses and their owners—or even their auxiliary partners —because most want nothing to do with a business that sells a product the federal government still considers illegal. That’s true even in states that have legalized marijuana. The governor… Read more.

In St. Louis in the 1980s, if you got caught with even a “butt of a joint,” you were going to do jail time, said Bob Ramsey, who was assistant public defender at the time.   Ramsey particularly remembers the head of the prosecutor’s marijuana task force, under then-Circuit Attorney George Peach.  “She was just absolutely ruthless and brutal,” Ramsey said. “You didn’t even bother to talk to her because you knew you were going to get a plea-bargain offer for… Read more.

Cannabis sales in Missouri have topped $350 million during the first three months of adult-use sales, the Missouri Independent reports. And while sales have remained strong, there was a slight dip in cannabis sales in April as adult-use sales fell about 3% from March, to $91 million, while medical cannabis sales slipped nearly 8% to $30.1 million, KSDK reports.   Missouri cannabis sales nevertheless remain on track to achieve $1 billion in annual sales this year.  Comparatively, it took seven months for neighboring Illinois to reach… Read more.

Recreational marijuana has been legally available in the Show-Me State for almost three months and in Springfield dispensaries, sales remain steady. Operators say a driving factor in the consistently high demand has been an influx of out-of-state customers who cross the border to purchase Missouri marijuana. Flora Farms President Mark Hendren said "the numbers are pretty steady" for the first 90 days that recreational products have been on the market. Flora Farms operates four dispensaries in Springfield, Humansville, Ozark and… Read more.

Some companies to slow their hiring strategies. Legalization of recreational cannabis in Missouri led to a surge in job growth within the industry, but the trend could be slowing as labor needs are met. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the number of active licenses to work in the sector catapulted from 9,800 in October to more than 14,000 in March, after voters approved recreational marijuana use through a constitutional amendment last November. While the rapid expansion has boosted the state’s economy,… Read more.

The Missouri House last week approved a measure that would require the state to conduct studies on psilocybin to treat depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, or use as part of end-of-life care, the Missouri Independent reports.   This bill requires the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to provide more than $2 million in grants for the research, subject to lawmakers approving the appropriation. The state would collaborate on the study with a Missouri university hospital or medical center operated by the U.S.… Read more.

Things are getting high in Missouri for cannabis users in more than one way! Less than two months into recreational pot being legal, there’s already a marijuana shortage and that’s leading to soaring prices. It starts with cultivators not being able to keep up with demand, moves down the line to manufacturers paying more for what’s grown, and ultimately leads to higher checkout totals at dispensaries. Missouri initially predicted around $50-60 million would be spent on cannabis. Now, we’re looking… Read more.

As former general manager of three Arena Football League teams, Reggie Harris knows the importance of going on offense. So, in 2021, when Harris and his team launched House of Kush, a Kansas City, Missouri-based company that sells cannabis-plant genetics via seedlings and licensing deals, he didn’t wait for clients to come find him. “Primarily, we’re going out seeking them,” Harris said. Today, House of Kush genetics are growing in six states – Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri and Oklahoma… Read more.

After the overwhelming success of previous business events, the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is returning to Miami beach April 11-12, 2023 with events taking place simultaneously on two stages at the historic Fontainebleau Hotel. As part of celebrating individuals, entrepreneurs, and organizations who do amazing things in the industry, Benzinga will feature Christine Smith, founder & CEO of Grön (pronounced "green"), one of the largest and most recognized producers of handcrafted cannabis-infused edibles in the American Northwest. Mother And Architect-Turned-Chocolatier Christine Smith brings over 20 years of experience as a licensed architect before… Read more.

The first two months of 2023 have shown expansive interest in bold drug policy reform in state legislatures across the country—most recently, with the introduction of numerous new bills touching on everything from psychedelics legalization to authorizing safe drug consumption sites. Lawmakers in several states will conduct hearings on such reform proposals over the next week. The marijuana legalization movement continues to spread and evolve, but it’s become quickly apparent this session that legislators are eager to more holistically move… Read more.