Marijuana Moment: Missouri Marijuana Officials File New Rules Targeting Bad Actors In Legal Industry

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“What we are saying in the rule is if a year from now we look at your ownership and we see you have someone exercising a controlling influence that you know has done these things, then that is a violation.”

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent

Missouri cannabis regulators want more power to penalize bad actors in the marijuana industry, according to drafts of proposed rules released last week.

The sweeping revisions to Division of Cannabis Regulation rules also aim to streamline the process for ownership changes, allow publicly traded companies to own cannabis licenses and establish recall procedures of marijuana products containing unregulated THC.

The proposed guidelines would particularly clarify what happens when there are rule-breakers “exercising a controlling influence” over a facility, said Amy Moore, director of the division that oversees the marijuana program.

“What we are saying in the rule is if a year from now [if the rules are approved] we look at your ownership,” Moore said, “and we see you have someone exercising a controlling influence that you know has done these things, then that is a violation.”

Moore was speaking of the rules’ detailed list of offenses that include selling or distributing unregulated THC, committing theft or other criminal offenses on the job, fraudulently using an agent identification card, tampering with or falsifying video recordings and refusing to cooperate with a department investigation.

Having a rule-breaker in a position of power would lead to a fine of up to $100,000 or suspension or revocation of a license, according to the rules.

The changes address some of the challenges regulators have encountered with facilities, such as the cases of the Delta Extraction manufacturing and Red Tractor cultivation facilities.

Nearly a year after the state stripped Robertsville-based Delta Extraction of its license for adding unregulated THC to its products, regulators approved one of the company’s co-owners—AJO LLC—to take over a cultivation and manufacturing facility in Waynesville in May 2024.

Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the division, told The Independent last year that the rules currently do not prohibit individuals who have had a license revoked from acquiring another license.

The Kansas City owner of Red Tractor pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges for submitting fraudulent documents to cannabis regulators in 2021 to obtain a marijuana cultivation license. Without a felony conviction to make him ineligible, Waggoner retained the two cannabis manufacturing licenses held by his company.

The public can comment on the division’s website until March 10, and regulators will review them and decide whether to formally submit the rules to the Secretary of State’s Office. This is the second time the division has asked for public input on most of these rules, with the first being in August.

The most-interested parties, the cannabis business owners, are working on submitting feedback to the latest draft, said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.

Streamlining the process

When a cannabis facility wants to make a change in ownership that’s more than 50%, they have to fill out a business-change application and get pre-approval to do so.

That process can drag on anywhere from six months to a year, Moore said.

“It has proven, over time, to be so rare that we find a constitutional violation in these things,” Moore said. “It feels like we can do away with a business having to wait any amount of time for our pre-approval.”

Instead, every licensee will submit a report annually that outlines ownership percentage for each entity or individual. Licensees must still seek pre-approval if they’re adding a new owner or an individual who has 10% or more interest, or they’re fully transferring their licenses to another entity.

“I think it is going to be more efficient for us, and definitely more efficient for the businesses,” she said.

A state audit released last week found that the division took an average of 165 days to approve or deny business ownership change requests from submission to final action, based on data the auditor reviewed from 2020 through 2023.

The auditor urged the division to decrease the turnaround time, and Moore feels this will help do that.

“It also allows us to be reviewing more frequently for some and as frequently as you need to for the others,” she said.  “I think it’ll be just more efficient government.”

The annual review requirement will also offer an opportunity for regulators to catch rule-breakers in ownership or management positions.

Another place of enforcement is with agent IDs. The rules would require these managers or decision makers to apply for an agent ID, when they previously didn’t need one if they weren’t working inside a facility. People who’ve committed certain offenses wouldn’t be eligible for an agent ID.

The change-business application is another place where regulators will be looking to enforce rules against bad actors. The list of 10 offenses gives applicants a clear idea of what might get an application denied, Moore said.

“It gives everybody fair warning,” Moore said, “that before they get into business relationships and before they get into the application process, what may cause us to say, ‘No’.”

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.

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