Multistate operators hog Missouri medical cannabis licenses

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Missouri granted medical marijuana licenses to some of the largest multistate cannabis operators in the U.S., leading to a flurry of complaints from applicants who were rejected.

A Missouri cannabis trade group also won a coveted license, according to an analysis of state records by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The influx of multistate operators seeking medical marijuana licenses in Missouri first came to light during a July review by the newspaper.

According to the Post-Dispatch’s recent review of records related to the issuance of 338 licenses to grow, process or sell medical marijuana in Missouri, multistate operators were among the big winners:

  • Justice Group of Pennsylvania was awarded 11 licenses.
  • Harvest Health & Recreation of Arizona received seven.
  • Grassroots OpCo, which is tied to Illinois-headquartered Grassroots Cannabis, won eight.
  • Bloom Medicinals of Florida was awarded eight.
  • Standard Wellness, which is based in Ohio and also has licenses in Utah, received six.
  • Holistic Missouri, which is tied to Washington DC-based Holistic Industries, was awarded six.
  • Verano Holdings, an Illinois-based MSO that is being acquired by Harvest Health, was issued four.

The state has received complaints from hundreds of applicants whose license requests were rejected.

The unsuccessful applicants contend Wise Health Solutions, the independent company hired by the state to evaluate more than 2,000 applications from 700 groups, had conflicts of interest and committed scoring discrepancies.

– Associated Press