“Our investigation found instances of licenses that were awarded to individuals who very clearly, through review of agreements and interviews, were not owning and operating the license.”
By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent
Missouri lawmakers signed off on proposed cannabis rules Thursday meant to curb abuse in the state’s microbusiness licensing program, but not before stripping out a ban on people tied to denied or revoked licenses from holding interests in future microbusinesses.
The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, made up of lawmakers from both the House and Senate, approved changes that would move regulators’ ownership review to before licenses are issued rather than after, a shift aimed at preventing another wave of revocations in the microbusiness program—sometimes called the social-equity cannabis program.
But the committee rejected a proposed rule barring the “owners, agents or representatives” of denied or revoked applicants from controlling another microbusiness license. Republican state Rep. Ben Keathley of Chesterfield said the language was too broad and needed to be more specific.
The microbusiness program was designed to boost opportunities in the cannabis industry for people in disadvantaged communities that have been most impacted by the war on drugs. It began in 2023, after passing as part of the constitutional amendment to
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