It’s been 18 months since DHSS awarded the first facility licenses.
More cultivators and manufacturers come online each week, and patients see fewer and fewer supply shortages and more and more product offerings with each visit.
Shortly after that, a business contact asked Walter if he would review his employment contract as an officer with a company that planned to file for multiple medical marijuana licenses in Illinois.
He responded that he “would rather represent the company and assist it with preparing and filing its applications.
“Our clients were looking for some assistance with vetting certain sites with local municipalities against their zoning regulations, or lack thereof,” Mansfield said.
But perhaps what the world may not know about Eric, and what I want everyone to know, is that he sees the potential in people that sometimes don’t see it in themselves.
“Eric and I have compared notes with regularity on the myriad of legal issues that affect our clients since the inception of the program,” Welsh said.
The day-to-day operations of the state’s regulatory body for medical marijuana, the Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation, falls under the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
That experience has helped me understand the dynamic between a state agency and the subject of that agency’s regulatory authority, and I believe that has helped me gain a modicum of respect from the individuals at DHSS.
None of the 2,163 original application groups could have fathomed the looming pandemic and economic uncertainty around the corner.
The resulting data watchdogs are using to forecast industry stability and health are weekly facility data and reports released by DHSS.
“DHSS may tell me that I am very wrong, but the sense I have is that the number of variance and change requests is tapering off,” Walter said.
At one year past the awarding of the original 60 cultivation facility licenses, 86 manufacturing facility licenses, and 192 dispensary licenses, a fraction of licensees had requested commencement inspections and received approval to operate.
The operational deadline helps in a capped license market like Missouri because once a licensee has missed the window to be among the first to become operational, it is easy to imagine licenses being on the sidelines and languishing while the licensee contemplates the best way forward.
Missouri’s operators were met by swaths of issues, mainly resulting from the pandemic, but some resulting from other external factors.
In addition to the ever-growing number of operational facilities, the patient count has officially cracked six digits and continues to grow on a stable, gradual trajectory.
Welsh previously represented entrepreneurial clients in highly regulated industries his entire career.
Welsh noted, “it is rare to have the opportunity to participate in the creation of a brand new industry.
Working together, we have been able to translate the industry information into proposed regulations, proposed amendments, or guidance that we believe fits within Amendment 2’s boundaries and presented it to DHSS for consideration while also respecting what we understand to be Missouri’s regulatory and political priorities.
In addition to the expansion, this campaign will create opportunities for many to improve the program.
“In particular, many believed that Amendment 2 ‘distance requirement’ provision was only intended to permit local governments to adjust downward the requirement that medical marijuana facilities be at least 1,000 feet from churches, schools, and daycares.
Welsh thinks that there is “always room for improvement, irrespective of what happens with the adult-use initiative next year.
Armstrong Teasdale, in particular, already represents clients that hold adult-use licenses in states where it is legal, e.g., Arizona, Illinois, Colorado.
“The state of the industry is good, notwithstanding the appeals,” Walter said.
“From there, I inserted myself into existing networks and developed my own connections with diverse people interested in different parts of the cannabis industry,” McCracken said.
McCracken has become a leader on the appeals, compliance, and commencement front for many operators.
I think it’s important for all appellants to make an honest assessment of their claims and make fully informed decisions on behalf of your company.
Over the next 6 to 12 months, the license dust will begin to settle as struggling operations fail and new ones start up.
“But more recently, DHSS’s general counsel’s office, and the outside counsel representing DHSS in the appeals, had indicated that DHSS is warming to the possibility of settling strong appeals, particularly if the appellant has multiple appeals it is willing to dismiss in exchange for a relatively small number of licenses.
Unfortunately, while I love Missouri, it is not quite as attractive of a destination as other legal states like Colorado, California, and Michigan, so persuading people with no connection to the state to move here has proven fairly challenging.
From seed to sale, compliance support is a focus to ensure operators are within the realms of state law and rules.
I have yet to find anyone in DHSS who is not willing to work through an ingenious business idea that weaves between regulations with a licensee who is earnest about maintaining compliance.