Missouri Regulators and Medical Cannabis Licensees Reach Agreement in Legal Dispute

Missouri regulators and a group of medical cannabis licensees have reached an agreement in a legal dispute that will ultimately result in three cannabis cultivators destroying their products and surrendering their business licenses.

The eight-page compromise, signed in May, settles alleged regulatory violations in an effort to end legal proceedings, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The medical cannabis licensees tangled up in the dispute—Perrysville-based Archimedes Medical Holdings, FUJM and Holistic Health Capital—had been accused of “pervasive irregularities” that ultimately kept state officials from confirming that products from the companies’ cultivation facilities had been tested, as well as not reporting “numerous outages” on security cameras to regulators, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Two of the facilities also allegedly had employees using pesticides without proper training or personal protective equipment (PPE), according to the news outlet.

Regulators with the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS) also accused one of the licensees of leaving medical cannabis products “unattended, unsecured, and in unsanitary conditions,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The settlement, which declares that the “licensees disagree with the Department’s position,” intends to “resolve the Department’s allegations,” but “shall not be construed as an admission of liability or wrongdoing by any Party,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Lisa Cox, a DHSS spokeswoman, told the news outlet that the agreement “resolves the investigation” into the three licensees, and that the primary owners of the licenses will not be allowed to hold medical cannabis licenses again.

The licensees must now transfer their facilities to a third-party management company by June 30, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, and must submit change of ownership or transfer of license change requests to the DHSS by the end of November. Otherwise, the licenses will be surrendered to the department Dec. 1.