Missouri cannabis regulators want new powers to strip serial rulebreakers of their permits as part of a broad overhaul of the 2-year-old market.
As The Missouri Independent reported, the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation also wants to boost the state’s marijuana social-equity program and crack down on hemp-derived THC.
Under the new proposed rules released Aug. 7, the Missouri DCR would:
- Be allowed to revoke or deny permits to entities who lost a prior permit for breaking state law.
- Clarify rules around social equity microbusinesses to discourage abuse by out-of-state interests.
- Clarify the recall procedure for “cannabis product that cannot be properly traced back” to a licensed in-state cultivator.
The new rules won’t become law until after a two-week public comment period ends Aug. 21.
Missouri has already revoked 34 social-equity permits for alleged abuses of the system.
And the state is attempting to thwart the same alleged attempts at inversion seen in other states, where hemp-derived THC product is smuggled into the state-licensed cannabis market.
Missouri has been one of the country’s cannabis success stories since voters approved adult-use legalization in 2022.
The state expects to eclipse $4 billion in sales since MMJ legalization in 2018 this fall.
But in that time, state regulators also revoked the license of Delta Extraction, which was accused of sourcing product from outside legal channels.
And, as the Independent reported, one of Delta’s co-owners has since taken over new licenses including retail as well as cultivation and manufacturing.
