The money was supposed to fund veteran programs but instead Missouri is burning through cash to defend itself in court.

In 2018, Missouri voters approved a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Two years later and licensed sales have yet to occur. Instead, businesses that applied for a license and were rejected have filed more than 800 lawsuits against Missouri. To date, 785 of the cases remain unresolved.

Maine and Missouri are the latest states to have their hemp plans approved by the U.S Department of Agriculture.

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) Commissioner Amanda Beal welcomed the announcement

“Hemp is becoming an important part of Maine’s agriculture sector,” said Commissioner Beal. “Approval of our hemp production plan means Maine’s growers will have certainty about the expectations and guidelines for hemp cultivation for the coming years.”

Missouri medical cannabis is being delayed yet again and is still not available for purchase, still because of a lack of testing sites for cannabis as well as delays caused by COVID-19. 

When they awarded licenses last winter, administrators of Missouri's medical marijuana program anticipated products being dispensed during the summer.

But only two dispensaries have opened (both in St. Louis), and they don't yet have products available for patients.

Having medical marijuana on the shelves for patients is imminent, according to Lyndall Fraker, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services section for medical marijuana regulation.

It is about time for harvest at a couple of Missouri medical marijuana cultivation facilities that have met all the state's requirements to grow the products, he said.

On November 6, 2018, Missouri voters passed Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution, establishing a medical marijuana program in Missouri. Article XIV requires the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to protect the trade secrets of medical marijuana businesses as well as patients’ information by keeping that information confidential.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services issued five new medical marijuana licenses Friday for infused product manufacturing facilities.

During the compliance review process for all new medical marijuana facility licenses, DHSS determined that certain facilities submitted duplicative applications for licenses and therefore received multiple licenses for a single proposed facility. 

While applicants were not prohibited from submitting duplicative applications, only one facility can only utilize one license. Therefore, DHSS has merged the redundant licenses for each of these facilities and issued five new licenses to the entities next in line on the conditionally denied applicant list.

The state of Missouri is investigating a St. Louis company that it says approved 600 fake medical marijuana certifications.

The state believes Lou Moynihan, 33, knew or participated in the fraudulent activity that likely occurred through telemedicine visits when the company, WeedCerts, launched last year.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the state said someone improperly used Dr. Allison Medlin's name to certify patients.

Medlin said she only learned someone was forging her signature when a WeedCerts patient called asking for her medical records.

Hundreds of patients are now scrambling to recertify and the integrity of Missouri's medial marijuana patient-approval process is in question.

In Kansas City, you no longer need to sweat it if you’re holding a little bud. 

That’s because the City Council on Thursday passed a new measure removing marijuana from the city’s code of ordinances. The measure passed the council by a vote of 9-4, according to local television station KMBC. With its passage, marijuana is essentially decriminalized in Kansas City. 

The proposal was offered up last month by Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, along with four other council members. 

Missouri has had a rocky road to cannabis reform and medical cannabis expansion so far, but now, the state is poised for success with their own, commercial cannabis grow facility now fully up and operational.