With Amendment 2 passing on election night, it's now up to the state and the Department of Health to implement it.
Missouri became the 31st state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, with Amendment 2 getting approval on November 6.
Chip Sheppard is a board member for "New Approach Missouri", who ran the campaign, who says their patient and veteran-centered approach will be a positive for everyone involved.
"Getting them off opiates for pain relief and getting them on marijuana, a lot of which is not psychoactive, but will help them with the pain relief. There will be about $20 million a year that will go to health care for veterans, and workforce development for veterans," says Sheppard.
That money will be generated from the 4% tax revenue on marijuana, but first, it has to be implemented.
"It is going to be highly regulated by the Department of Health, and they will be regulating everything about it. Under our constitutional amendment, it's mandated deadlines for the Department of Health. So the Department of Health has to hit certain marks, and if they hit all those marks then we'll have medicine by next Christmas, or next January. We are 13, 14, 15 months away," Sheppard says.
Once things are up and running, an M.D. or a D.O. will have to certify that you have one of the qualifying conditions.
Sheppard rattles off a short list of qualifying conditions.
"Any sort of chronic pain. Pain that keeps you from working, pain that keeps you from really being able to enjoy life. PTSD, Epilepsy, MS, Parkinson's, all kinds of mental disorders, chemotherapy," says Sheppard.
Once certified by a doctor, patients send the report to the Department of Health, who will issue a patient card that can be used at dispensaries.
Patients can buy marijuana, infused products, or plants for home growing.
Those plants are subject to inspection from the Department of Health.
"They would buy a six-inch plant, they would leave the dispensary with -- 6 six-inch plants would be their maximum," Sheppard explains.
Mercy and CoxHealth tell KOLR10 that doctors will work with patients to determine what treatment is best, and the hospital systems will follow the framework laid down by the state.
We also reached out for a statement from Dr. Brad Bradshaw with Amendment 3, which failed to pass.
He declined to comment.
Below is a timetable for applicants provided to KOLR10 by Missouri Cannabis Consultants LLC for the deadlines on implementation.
It also includes license fee schedules for dispensaries, cultivation facilities, and infused products-manufacturing facilities.
TIMETABLE FOR APPLICANTS
Dec. 6, 2018: Effective Date of New Approach Missouri Constitutional Amendment (Amendment 2)
Feb. 1, 2019: Counties in the State of Missouri will be notified of the number of Permits for Dispensaries
March 8, 2019: Deadline for DHSS (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services) to have all application forms available for all prospective licenses (cultivation, dispensary, infusion-extraction, patient, patient home cultivation, and primary caregivers)
May 7, 2019: Deadline for DHSS to begin accepting applications for all licenses and ID cards
June 6, 2019: Deadline for DHSS to have approved or denied all applications submitted on or before the May 7, 2019 deadline (denial letters must be within 30 days of submission)
Oct. 4, 2019: Deadline for DHSS to have approved or denied applications for cultivation, dispensary, and infusion-extraction facilities that submitted applications on the earliest day allowed (150 days to approve or deny applications)
LICENSE FEES
Dispensaries
- $6,000 non-refundable application fee per license application
- Licenses are valid for 3 years
- License fees are $10,000 annually per facility
- All applications and renewals are $6,000 within first 3 years of effective date and are $3,000 thereafter
- Application & License fees will increase or decrease annually by the percentage of increase or decrease of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) from end of previous year
- No more than 5 dispensary licenses shall be awarded to any group or entity
- Each facility in operation will require a separate license
- Only 24 dispensary licenses shall be rewarded in each of the 8 congressional districts for a minimum of 192 dispensaries statewide
- Future changes to districts shall have no impact
Cultivation Facilities
- $10,000 non-refundable application fee per license application
- Licenses are valid for 3 years
- All applications and renewals are $10,000 within first 3 years of effective date and are $5,000 thereafter
- Application & License fees will increase or decrease annually by the percentage of increase or decrease of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) from end of previous year
- No more than 3 cultivation licenses shall be awarded to any group or entity
- Multiple licenses can be utilized in a single facility
- Only 1 license shall be awarded per 100,000 people minimum with a state population of 5,988,927 from 2010 Census (Equates to 59 cultivation licenses minimum shall be awarded)
- An increase in the 2020 Census will have significant impact as more licenses become available. A decrease in census numbers shall have no impact
Infused Product-Manufacturing Facilities
- $6,000 non-refundable application fee per license application
- Licenses are valid for 3 years
- License fees are $10,000 annually per facility
- All applications and renewals are $6,000 within first 3 years of effective date and are $3,000 thereafter
- Application & License fees will increase or decrease annually by the percentage of increase or decrease of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) from end of previous year
- No more than 3 Infused Product-Manufacturing Facility licenses shall be awarded to any group or entity
- Each facility in operation will require a separate license
- Only 1 license shall be awarded per 70,000 people minimum with a state population of with a state population of 5,988,927 from 2010 Census (Equates to 85 cultivation licenses minimum shall be awarded)
- An increase in the 2020 Census will have significant impact as more licenses become available. A decrease in census numbers shall have no impact
