As the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) makes its first $2.1 million transfer of medical marijuana-related revenue to the Missouri Veterans Commission, more than half as much – approximately $1.3 million – has already been spent fielding lawsuits from businesses denied licenses to dispense medical marijuana.
DHSS said it will transfer $2,135,510 to the Veterans Commission in a recent press release.
“Facilities are getting up and running now, and the first testing laboratory is on track to be operational very soon,” Lyndall Fraker, director of the Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation, is quoted as saying in the release. “We are confident that medical marijuana will become available for patients this month, and I am grateful for all of the hard work by so many that got us to this point.”
So far, 785 of the 853 appeals by businesses denied a license have been resolved, according to reporting by the Joplin globe. The state received 2,270 license applications, and awarded 348 licenses.
However, Lisa Cox, DHSS communications director, told the St. Louis Record that while the department has honored the wish of voters to have caps on the number of dispensaries, Missouri still has much higher caps than other states. For comparison, while Missouri has 192 dispensaries for a population of 6 million, Ohio is limited to 60 dispensaries for a population of 11 million.
Of the original 853 appeals by businesses denied a license, 785 remain to be resolved, Cox told the St. Louis Record.
“We had an unprecedented number of business applications and therefore a high number of appeals. The number of appeals is not an indication of flaws in the process, but rather the high number of applicants,” she said. “The number of appeals now is a one-time event to get a new regulated industry off the ground.”
From January through September, DHSS spent a total of $1,291,036.73 handling the appeals, Cox told the Record. The cost was, in part, a reflection of the department not having the staff to handle the high number of appeals, which resulted in the need to contract outside counsel.