Your Comprehensive Guide To Medical Marijuana License Applications In Missouri

On November 6, Missouri Amendment 2 was passed by voters with a 65.6% majority. This amendment made it so that marijuana was legalized for medical purposes, setting a sales tax rate at 4% and allocating the tax revenue to be spent on healthcare services for veterans. It also designated the Department of Health and Senior Services to be in charge of the program, accepting applications for both business licenses and patient identification cards.

Prior to the passing of Amendment 2, it was entirely illegal to possess or use medical marijuana in Missouri. Now, patients are allowed to have six flowering plants in their homes and four ounces of purchased dried marijuana. The passage of Amendment 2 also opened up the field to those who will be supplying medical marijuana to patients, allowing for cultivation facilities, dispensaries, infused products manufacturing facilities, and testing facilities.

What are the regulations per facility?

There are four kinds of facilities defined in Amendment 2:

Medical marijuana cultivation facility: “a facility licensed by the department, to acquire, cultivate, process, store, transport, and sell marijuana to a medical marijuana dispensary facility, medical marijuana testing facility, or to a medical marijuana-infused products manufacturing facility.

Medical marijuana dispensary facility: “a facility licensed by the department, to acquire, store, sell, transport, and deliver marijuana, marijuana-infused products, and drug paraphernalia used to administer marijuana as provided for in this section to a qualifying patient, a primary caregiver, another medical marijuana dispensary facility, a medical marijuana testing facility, or a medical marijuana-infused products manufacturing facility.”
Medical marijuana-infused products manufacturing facility: “a facility licensed by the department, to acquire, store, manufacture, transport and sell marijuana-infused products to a medical marijuana dispensary facility, a medical marijuana testing facility, or another medical marijuana-infused product manufacturing facility.”
Medical marijuana testing facility: “a facility certified by the department to acquire, test, certify and transport marijuana.”
Medical marijuana transportation facility: “a facility certified by the department to transport marijuana to a qualifying patient, a primary caregiver, a medical marijuana cultivation facility, a medical marijuana-infused products manufacturing facility, a medical marijuana dispensary facility, a medical marijuana testing facility, or another medical marijuana transportation facility.”

For each of these facilities, the regulations regarding placement of the facility will vary depending on the city where you plan to open. Amendment 2 provides that your business must be setback 1,000 feet from a church, K-12 school or licensed daycare. A city can reduce the 1,000-foot setback but a city cannot increase the set back requirement. While a city cannot ban medical marijuana facilities, they can set rules about the location and open hours. Many cities keep a specific distance from churches, daycares, and schools.

How does the state determine who gets a license?

The state’s application includes 68 questions that all types of facilities must answer, followed by several questions for your specific facility application. Each of these questions are granted a scoring scale, determining how many points you can receive for the question. There are also a number of yes/no questions on the application.

The questions are also granted a weight within the topic on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most important. If it is an essay question, you will be provided with the word count limit and the attachment page limit. The word count limit ranges from 300-1,000 words depending on the question being asked. There are a total of 1900 possible points, with topic weight ranging from .04 to .20.

Many of the questions center around topics like:

Character, veracity, backgrounds, and qualifications of your team
Quality of business plan
Site security
Experience in a legal cannabis market
Potential for positive economic impact in the site community
Maintaining competitiveness in the medical marijuana marketplace
Experience of personnel testing marijuana
Facilities and experience with agriculture, horticulture, and healthcare
Experience with healthcare, suitability of proposed location, accessibility for patients
Experience with food and beverage manufacturing
Plans to guard marijuana against entering the black market
Proof of necessary capital

What documents do I need to fill out my facility licensing application?

In order to complete your application, you’ll need to provide several documents to prove that your business can be granted a license:

A Certificate of Good Standing from the Missouri Secretary of State
Completed Ownership Structure Form
Proof of Missouri residency
Written/visual representation of ownership structure. You must also supply an Ownership Structure Form from the state website.
Local government requirement that replaces the 1,000-foot rule
Map of the area that shows compliance with the 1,000-foot rule or another local government requirement
Descriptions, schematics or blueprints for the proposed facility
Local zoning requirements with explanations of the facility’s compliance with local requirements
A written explanation of how the facility is under substantially common control (if applicable)

If you are starting a seed to sale operation, you will also be required to fill out a certification application as well.

How much does it cost to get started?

Application Fees

Depending on the type of license you wish to receive, you’ll have to pay a non-refundable application fee ranging from $6,000 to $10,000. The fee schedule of facilities is as follows:

Cultivation Facilities: $10,000 application fee, $25,000 annual renewal fee

Dispensaries: $6,000 application fee, $10,000 annual renewal fee

Medical Marijuana Infused Manufacturing Facilities: $6,000 application fee, $10,000 annual renewal fee

Liquid Capital Requirements

The state also has liquid capital requirements for each different type of facility. Failure to show evidence of this amount of capital will result in an unsatisfactory score on this measure of the license application:

Cultivation Facilities: $300,000

Dispensaries: $150,000

Medical Marijuana Infused Manufacturing Facilities: $150,000

Transportation Facilities: $150,000

Testing Facilities: $200,000