Rebecca Rivas

Revenue from marijuana sales has gone up, but fewer people are going to casinos in Missouri. That means funding that goes toward operational needs of the state’s seven veterans homes is still 'year to year to year,' according to lawmakers.

Two years ago, Missouri regulators suspended Delta Extraction's license after finding the company's THC concentrate was made with out-state cannabis. Now, even more products have been declared a "potential threat to health and safety."

Missouri's marijuana regulators believe that many "designated contacts" for cannabis businesses have kept the actual eligible applicants in the dark. Now, the state is cracking down.

Of the 96 microbusiness licenses issued by Missouri through a lottery since the program’s inception last year, cannabis consultant David Brodsky is connected to seven. They are all under investigation or facing revocation.

The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District determined that counties don't have authority as a local government to impose an additional sales tax on recreational marijuana. In one case, cannabis customers paid a total sales tax of nearly 21%.

A circuit court in May ruled that both a county and a local municipality can impose a 3% sales tax at dispensaries in their jurisdictions. That's led to marijuana sales tax rates of nearly 18% in some places.

Missouri's microbusiness program was sold as a way to help victims of the War on Drugs get a toehold in the burgeoning industry. But contracts reveal out-of-state companies or industry insiders repeatedly attempted to use qualified applicants to win the licenses and then shut them out of the profit.

Following a lawsuit from the state's hemp industry, Missouri health regulators will stop embargoing products simply because they contain hemp-derived THC. Instead, they'll focus on identifying "misbranded" products.

Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order to remove all hemp-derived THC edibles and beverages from store shelves and threatening penalties to any establishment that continues selling them. But industry leaders say the ban goes too far.

“As best I can tell, you denied this emergency rulemaking because you believe hurt feelings are more important than protecting children,” Gov. Mike Parson wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.