Missouri will award 348 marijuana business licenses — selected from 2,100 applications

• A key official previously estimated that the state would get 600 to 700 applications.
• Wise Health Solutions in Nevada will "blind-score" the applications.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with newly released data from the Missouri health department.

There will be more than 1,700 dashed hopes by Dec. 31.

Early Tuesday, the Missouri health department announced that it received 2,163 applications for medical marijuana facility licenses as of its 4:30 p.m. Monday deadline. Under Amendment 2, the state must require competitive licenses for would-be owners of cannabis-related businesses. The state collected more than $13 million in application fees, according to a news release.

The state plans to award 348 licenses: 192 for dispensaries, 60 for cultivation facilities, 86 for manufacturing facilities and 10 for testing labs.

The health department has already approved more than 6,500 applications for qualifying medical marijuana patient and caregiver ID cards since it began taking them June 28, officials said in a Monday news release.

State officials have not always predicted that they would get so many applications from would-be "canna-business" ventures.

At a Springfield public forum held in March, Lyndall Fraker, director of medical marijuana, said that based on other states' experiences with marijuana licensing, he thought the Department of Health and Senior Services would receive 600 to 700 applications.

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In its Monday afternoon news release, DHSS said a breakdown of applications by location and facility type will not be available for several weeks.

"Staff resources are currently committed to reviewing applications for completeness," the release said.

The health department director, Randall Williams, called Missouri's "complex" marijuana rollout an example of "good governance" and "putting patients first." The state director of medical marijuana, Lyndall Fraker, said in a Tuesday news release that the "astounding" number of applicants "represents the level of interest and enthusiasm from people who want to be a part of this with us.”

“We greatly appreciate the input and feedback we have received from so many Missourians that have helped us implement Article XIV of the Constitution,” Williams said in the news release, referring to Amendment 2 by its formal name.

A Carson City, Nevada-based company, Wise Health Solutions, has until Nov. 30 to "blind-score" the applications. The company may finish scoring testing lab applications by Sept. 15 and cultivation applications by Oct. 30, according to documents released to the News-Leader by DHSS earlier this week. 

Amendment 2 provides that the state must approve or deny facility license applications no later than Dec. 31.

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Dispensaries are expected to be operating sometime in mid-2020.

Jack Cardetti, a spokesman for the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association, said Monday morning the group was "pleasantly surprised" by the number of business applications. It recently estimated there would be "more than 1,000."

Cardetti said it's clear that "a lot of people would love to be on the ground floor of this industry, that's certain." Competition is especially heavy when it comes to entrepreneurs who have applied for multiple types of licenses.

Meanwhile, those whose applications are denied may move into ancillary businesses or be hired by successful applicants. But Cardetti said the trade association's current focus is on the level of interest generated by Missouri medical marijuana in terms of patient and business applications.

"I think the 2,100 (business) applications really is stunning," Cardetti told the News-Leader Monday morning. "It shows that Missouri is different than other programs. If you compare our program to states like Arkansas, that's a lot more accessible than many states we've seen that have a relatively small number of licenses."

The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs reported earlier this month that Arkansas' seven functioning legal dispensaries had sold about $5 million in product since they opened May 10. The Natural State has licensed 32 dispensaries that expect to be operating by the end of this year, and they expect to bring in significantly more revenue.

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Cardetti noted that Missouri's 192-dispensary system will be much larger than the Arkansas system and "spread relatively evenly" across the state's congressional districts.

"When the Missouri system is completely up and running, patients will not have to go far," he said. "Certainly in the opening days, there will be a race to the harvest."