Rebecca Rivas
ReporterRebecca Rivas covers civil rights, criminal justice and immigration for the Missouri Independent. She has been reporting in Missouri since 2001, most recently as senior reporter and video producer at the St. Louis American, the nation's leading African-American newspaper.
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For the second year in a row, dispensaries across the state experienced IT problems on the industry’s biggest and most important sales day.
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Delta-8 THC products — including a large variety of drinks that are popular at bars and available at gas stations throughout the state — can be sold in Missouri stores because they are made from hemp, which is federally legal.
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Unlike Kansas and 22 other states, Missouri does not have licensing or registration laws for naturopathic doctors, or primary care physicians with a focus on holistic care. The bill would allow naturopathic doctors only to perform minor office procedures, but not perform surgeries or prescribe opioids.
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Naturopathic medicine — or the practice of a primary care physician with a focus on holistic care — is currently illegal in Missouri because the state does not have licensing or registration laws for naturopathic doctors. Missouri Republicans are trying to change that.
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Numerous clinical studies nationwide have shown positive results from using psilocybin to treat PTSD, depression and substance use. New legislation would require Missouri to conduct a clinical study on therapy with “magic mushrooms" for veterans.
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At the same time when courts are required to dig through decades of non-digitized records for expungements, they are also involved in a large redacting project to make court records accessible online. Missouri courts have granted more than 103,000 expungements so far.
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Missouri's microbusiness marijuana license program is meant to boost opportunities in the industry for businesses in disadvantaged communities. Three companies — one from Michigan, one from Arizona and one from Missouri — appear connected to 43% of the applications.
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Hemp industry leaders, state marijuana regulators and members of Congress all seem to agree the feds should regulate CBD — but the standoff is over intoxicating hemp products. In Missouri, a company is accused of illegally importing marijuana but insists it actually brought legal, unregulated hemp into the state.
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Missouri regulators have agreed to delay revoking the license of the company at the center of the recall as a hearing over the matter is pushed to December.
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Marijuana manufacturer Delta Extraction has denied accusations that it illegally imported cannabis into Missouri, arguing it actually imported a non-psychoactive hemp product that was converted into THC once in the state. But dispensaries said they had no idea Delta's product was made from hemp.