The Department of Health and Senior Services says it’s prepared to start accepting applications for medical marijuana facilities over the next couple weeks.
The department says it has systems in place to begin accepting applications for medical marijuana facilities beginning 12:00 a.m. on Aug. 3 until 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 17. All applications will be filled out directly on the secure, online registry.
DHSS published facility application tutorial videos online to assist applicants through this process and allow them to become familiar with the actions that will need to be taken, such as creating a user account and uploading documents.
A criminal background check is also part of the application process, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol form, registration codes and instructions are now available online. All owners who hold any portion of the economic or voting interest of the facility who will also have access to medical marijuana or the medical marijuana facility, and all officers, directors, board members, managers and employees named in the facility application must submit fingerprints for a criminal record check in order for the application to be considered complete.
More than 600 potential applicants have already pre-filed their facility application fees with DHSS. A third-party blind scorer will review and score the Evaluation Criteria Scoring Questions for all cultivation, manufacturing, dispensary, and testing facility applications, stripped of any identifying information.
“Early on as we began our research, our team got together to discuss the various ways we could award licenses, and we all agreed that a blind scoring system using a third-party vendor would be the fairest way to grant licenses to applicants,” said Lyndall Fraker, director of the Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation. “Since applicants will be scored solely on the content of their facility applications, we also believe that this will help set the industry up for a successful launch for Missouri patients.”
DHSS plans to license 60 cultivation facilities, 192 dispensaries, 86 medical marijuana-infused manufacturing facilities and 10 testing laboratory facilities.
The department began processing qualified patient and caregiver applications ahead of schedule on June 28. Since then, DHSS has approved more than 5,000 applications.
Learn more at medicalmarijuana.mo.gov.
