On June 21, U.S. District
Judge Nanette K. Laughrey ruled against Missouri's residency rules and removed
the state requirement that medical cannabis businesses must be majority-owned
by individuals who have lived in the state for a minimum of one year.
Laughrey said that the
residency requirement violated the U.S. Constitution’s Dormant Commerce Clause,
which refers to the prohibition implied in the Commerce Clause "against
states passing legislation that discriminates against or excessively burdens
interstate commerce," according to Cornell Law School.
According to Law360, Laughrey ruled
that it was unclear how Missouri's residency policy fulfilled its goal of
keeping medical cannabis from being trafficked out of the state. She added that
for the one-year residency requirement to pass, the state must prove it was
tailored to advance a legitimate local interest; however, she said the Missouri
Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) and the state's cannabis
regulator did not meet that requirement.
Laughrey said the court did
not accept the MDHSS claims that the residency requirement would ease the need to secure an application's out-of-state records just because that applicant lived in Missouri for one year, Law360 reported.
And the court added that if the department had a legit interest in keeping
medical cannabis from being interstate trafficked or diverted into the illicit market,
there are other ways to do that besides discriminating against out-of-state business
owners.
"It is no easier for a
person who has lived in Missouri for less than a year to drive from Missouri to
Kansas with medical marijuana in their trunk than it is for a person who has
lived in Missouri for a year and a day," Laughrey wrote in her decision.
"And it is no more difficult for a long-time Missouri resident to smuggle
marijuana out of the medical system and into the recreational market than it is
for anyone else."
Essentially, the court order
prevents the state from improperly burdening interstate commerce and similar
policies in city and state-regulated cannabis industries, according to Law360.
