The Missouri Supreme Court will decide whether state regulators can disclose information contained in the medical cannabis applications they received after Kings Garden Midwest LLC, a company that was denied cultivation licenses in the state, argued that regulators’ decision to keep the information confidential limits its right to appeal.

Meanwhile, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) has claimed that it is constitutionally obligated to protect the application information, according to the Missouri Independent, despite lower courts ordering the department to disclose it.

DHSS claims that a provision in the 2018 constitutional amendment that legalized medical cannabis requires it to protect the information. The language included in the amendment states that regulators “shall maintain the confidentiality of reports or other information obtained from an applicant or licensee containing any individualized data, information, or records related to the licensee or its operation,” the Missouri Independent reported.

The DHSS is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision in order to uphold the confidentiality provisions outlined in the constitutional amendment.

Kings Garden filed two unsuccessful applications for medical cannabis cultivation licenses, and in its appeal, the company asked for unredacted copies of approved applications to help illustrate that the answers on its applications were similar to those of successful applicants, the Missouri Independent reported.

A Missouri Court of Appeals in the Western District judge ruled in May that DHSS officials should not have withheld the applications, according to the news outlet. Judge Lisa White Hardwick wrote in her ruling that “since applications were ranked competitively, comparing the applications against one another was necessary to determine whether the state denied a license in an arbitrary or capricious manner,” the Missouri Independent reported.

Kings Garden Midwest noted in its brief that the administrative hearing commission entered a protective order that allowed for state regulators to redact applicants’ identifying information when providing the applications that the company requested from the state, according to the news outlet.

Meanwhile, James Layton, an attorney arguing on DHSS’ behalf, claims that the language of the constitutional amendment does not delegate authority to the administrative hearing commission to decide what information is confidential, the Missouri Independent reported.

The DHSS wrote in its brief that application information has been requested “in many, perhaps most, of the 578 appeals still pending” with the administrative hearing commission. The department will not take any action until the issue is addressed in court, the Missouri Independent reported.

Tallahassee, Fla. – Dec. 28, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – Trulieve Cannabis Corp. has announced several new executive appointments including; President, Steve White; Vice President & General Counsel, Nicole Stanton; Director of Investor Relations, Christine Hersey; and Executive Director of Corporate Communications, Rob Kremer. 

The White, Stanton and Hersey appointments follow the company’s Oct. 1, 2021, closing of the acquisition of Harvest Health and Recreation Inc.

“We are thrilled to officially announce the appointment of several members of the legacy Harvest team to key roles within our organization,” said Kim Rivers, Trulieve’s CEO. “The addition of talent and experienced leadership was a key component of the Harvest acquisition and further advances our strategy of expansion through the addition of regional assets and teams within our hub model. We also are adding to our leadership team as the company continues to experience significant growth.”   

These leaders deliver a breadth of experience from multiple industries to Trulieve’s leadership team:

• Steve White, President – White co-founded Harvest Health & Recreation in 2011 and served as CEO until the acquisition of the company by Trulieve. As an early pioneer in the U.S. legal cannabis industry, White led the company as it grew from a single dispensary to become one of the top multi-state operators with cultivation, manufacturing, and retail operations in several markets. White spearheaded one of the industry’s most successful license application teams, paving the way for rapid growth through organic license awards and capital efficient expansion. As a former litigator, White successfully navigated the complex patchwork of different regulatory regimes across various U.S. markets while advocating for expanded access to cannabis for patients and adult use consumers. White serves as a member of the boards of the Arizona Dispensary Association and charitable organization Harvesting Hope. White graduated from Arizona State University Honors College summa cum laude with a B.S. in Political Science and earned a Juris Doctorate from Washington & Lee University, School of Law.
• Nicole Stanton, Vice President and General Counsel – Stanton served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Harvest since 2019, overseeing the legal department and compliance program. She received the Public Company General Counsel of the Year award by the Arizona Corporate Counsel in April 2021.  That same year, the Harvest legal department was nominated for Legal Department of the Year. Prior to joining Harvest, Stanton was employed by the national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP for nearly 20 years. She served as the office managing partner of the firm’s Phoenix office from 2013-2018, as well as the firm’s assistant general counsel from 2009-2019. While managing partner, she was responsible for overseeing more than 100 lawyers and 75 professional legal staff, covering 11 different legal practice areas. She is a veteran litigation and legal ethics counsel. Her success as defense counsel garnered her an established and credible reputation across business practices including awards as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona from AZ Business Magazine (2015-2108) and Phoenix Business Journal’s Most Admired Leaders (2014). Stanton holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from the University of Utah and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona, College of Law.  She has taught legal ethics at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and is a member of the prestigious American Law Institute. 
• Christine Hersey, Director of Investor Relations – Hersey served as Director of Investor Relations at Harvest since June 2019. She has over 20 years’ experience in corporate, buy-side and sell side roles working in and covering a variety of sectors including biotech, cannabis, cleantech, and consumer retail at Durant Partners, Efficacy Capital, M.S. Howells, Savitr Capital, and Wedbush Securities. Hersey previously covered global securities traveling throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Prior to her career in finance, Christine worked as an environmental engineer and project manager. Hersey earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, M.S. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University, and an MBA and M.S. in Finance from Boston College.
• Rob Kremer, Executive Director of Corporate Communications – Kremer has nearly 30 years of experience in both corporate and agency settings. In his role at Trulieve, he will oversee both internal and external communications. Kremer spent the past 10 years as a partner at Rhythm Communications where he developed and implemented successful programs and campaigns. Client leadership includes Chick-fil-A, General Mills, Mizuno, as well as celebrities such as Champ Bailey, Ludacris and Ray Lewis, among many others. Previously, he served as in-house PR at both Coca-Cola and Aetna U.S. Healthcare, as well as an internal communications consultant at Hewitt Associates. Several campaigns under his stewardship have been recognized for regional and national awards. Kremer is a graduate of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia and serves on numerous philanthropic boards.