cannabis

Many are grappling with the financial uncertainty of investing their life savings as they work to make their marijuana businesses a success.

More than 40,000 Missouri food establishments and stores are estimated to be impacted by federal regulations on hemp products, which were included in the new spending package that reopened the federal government.

The executive director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation recently told state lawmakers that they should outlaw drinks infused with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

The Trump administration is considering placing marijuana in the same federal classification as codeine, instead of where it currently is alongside heroin.

Retailers in other states have offered steep discounts that threaten market stability, analysts said at the MJ Unpacked cannabis conference in St. Louis.

The court ruled 6 to 1 that counties cannot levy a 3% tax on marijuana dispensaries in cities and towns — only in unincorporated areas.

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.

Years of federal prohibition and the resulting limits on research mean the science about marijuana is skimpy at best. Missouri has budgeted $2.5 million for a public information campaign about the health risks of marijuana use.

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.

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.