The law allows minors already receiving treatment to continue, but a cause-of-action provision has some facilities abandoning the practice altogether out of fear of future litigation

By ANNELISE HANSHAW,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/01/30/open-enrollment-missouri-school-choice/">Missouri Independent</a>

Harry Castilow said his family did “all the things you’re supposed to do” when his teenage son Jay came out as transgender.

Jay began his social transition in 2021 when he was 15, choosing his name and living as a teenage boy. He went to therapy throughout that first year and got appointments with a new primary-care doctor and an endocrinologist, a doctor that specializes in hormones.

When Jay began hormone-replacement therapy a little over a year after coming out, his father could see the change in him.

“It helped him immensely,” Castilow said at a rally in support of transgender rights on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus Sept. 15.

“I can see my boy. I saw my son,” he said through tears. “We thought we were safe. We were told we were safe. They told us we were safe.”

On Aug. 28, as a law went into effect banning minors from beginning new gender-affirming treatments, Jay’s mom received a call. His doctor at the University of Missouri would no longer treat him.

MU Health stopped providing gender-affirming care for minors when the law went into effect, citing “significant legal liability” in a statement to The Independent. On Sept. 11, Washington University in St. Louis also ceased care for transgender youth that were still eligible to receive care.

Patients, parents and activists say they feel like the statute of limitations provision of the law undermines the compromise worked out this year in the Missouri Senate — that ended Democrats’ filibuster and opened the door for the bill’s passage — to allow transgender minors who were already receiving gender-affirming treatment to continue.&nbsp;

Most say they never saw it coming, assuming that while the new law would bar new patients from getting care, it wouldn’t upend treatments for those already grandfathered in. And some say the provision is reminiscent of laws that for years have targeted access to abortion.

“This is the same kind of issue that we have run into forever with abortion health care, gender-affirming health care and birth control,” Carla Lantz, gender-affirming hormone therapy program director for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, told&nbsp; The Independent.

“It should not be a political move to get life-saving care, it just shouldn’t.”

As Washington University revoked prescriptions for minors in its Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital — which is currently facing an investigation by Missouri’s attorney general — it cited fears of lawsuits.

“Missouri’s newly enacted law regarding transgender care has created a new legal claim for patients who received these medications as minors. This legal claim creates unsustainable liability for health-care professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue to provide comprehensive transgender care for minor patients without subjecting the university and our providers to an unacceptable level of liability,” the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://source.wustl.edu/2023/09/statement-on-washington-university-transgender-center/">university’s Sept. 11 statement</a>&nbsp;says.

Over the last three decades, states have increasingly turned to medical liability laws to restrict abortion access, allowing doctors to be sued for injuries to an “unborn child or mother.”

Missouri was the first state to pass a “trigger ban,” restricting abortions unless the parent’s life is at risk, as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Previously, the state required abortion providers to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers. The legislature passed further restrictions in 2019, like requiring consent from all of a minors’ guardians, which were blocked in court.

The ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal have challenged Missouri’s restrictions on gender-affirming care, and a circuit court judge denied the request to block the law prior to its effective date.

In&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Response%20in%20Opposition%20to%20Motion%20for%20Preliminary%20Injunction.PDF?courtCode=19&amp;di=2883930">his written response opposing a preliminary injunction</a>, Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine cited Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade — on nine occasions.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey, in an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023-09-14-FILED-Brandt-v.-Griffin-States-Amicus-Brief.pdf">amicus brief</a>&nbsp;in support of states with gender-affirming-care restriction, supported Arkansas’ currently blocked ban by also citing Dobbs.

“This is the playbook for abortion care,” Lantz said. “We know how they have a long game that they played to make abortion care something other than health care. But the group that’s under scrutiny right now is trans and gender-expansive folks.”

Madeline Johnson, an attorney based in Platte City with a focus on LGBTQ law, told The Independent she sees “a tremendous amount of overlap” between lawmakers’ abortion and gender-affirming-care policies.

“I see it to be an attempt by religious conservatives to overstep their bounds and control the health, rights and medical treatment of other persons who don’t agree with their faith,” she said.

Missouri’s gender-affirming-care restrictions give patients 15 years or 15 years after their 21st birthday, whichever is later, to file a cause of action against the medical provider.

In Missouri’s medical malpractice lawsuits, patients have two years to file a claim. But this law is very different, Johnson said.

The new law defines harm as infertility caused by the puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. Fertility is uncertain when patients receive cross-sex hormones, and medical providers are instructed to refer patients for fertility counseling prior to prescribing hormone-replacement therapy.

This section exempts itself from the part of the state law which&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://law.justia.com/codes/missouri/2022/title-xxxvi/chapter-538/">outlines medical malpractice proceedings</a>. Patients who are harmed, as defined in this ban, can be awarded a minimum of $500,000 with no maximum, and the burden of proof is on the medical provider to give “clear and convincing evidence.”

Typically, patients are limited to the cost of their expenses and up to $400,000 for noneconomic damages, and the plaintiff is responsible for proving malpractice.

Johnson said, as written, patients grandfathered into the law would be able to raise a cause of action.

Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, told The Independent the cause-of-action provision was intentionally written to include those who are continuing their prescriptions written prior to the law’s effective date.

“Even though these kids might be well meaning and even though the medical personnel might be well meaning, there could be some harmful impact,” he said.

He’s talked with activists who have regretted transition surgeries, called “detransitioners.” Two out-of-state activists spoke at a press conference hosted by Moon during the legislative session.

Moon initially wasn’t in favor of a clause allowing children to continue puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, he said. Then, after talking to an activist who said she quit hormones “cold turkey” to ill effect, he thought it was important for patients to have a chance to taper off their medication.

But transgender teens and their families didn’t think this clause was a chance to ween off their health care, it was an opportunity to continue their transition.

May Hall, a transgender student at the University of Missouri, told those gathered for the Columbia rally that she feels like she’s lying when she comforts younger trans kids.

“It’s going to be okay,” she says. But she’s scared too.

She’s watched committee hearings in the Capitol, feeling unheard by lawmakers. But it hurt to see her university backstab her community, she said.

Paul Harper, a member of Columbia LGBTQ+ nonprofit The Center Project’s parent group, said some parents weren’t alerted of MU Health’s cancellations until they saw it reported in the media.&nbsp;

“I have personally heard more than a dozen in the past few weeks frantic to ensure that they’re children get the care they need,” Harper, who serves on Columbia Public Schools Board of Education, told protesters.

Lantz has also been fielding phone calls from anxious parents.

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri’s clinics have been seeing more patients for gender-affirming care since the law was announced. It only provides cross-sex hormones to those 16 and older, and minors must have parental consent.

The law bans minors from beginning cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers, but those who have already begun treatment may continue.

So between the law’s passage and its effective date, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri set up pop-up clinics to begin care.

“We have heard so many stories of people saying that they’ve thought about (a medical transition for a long time and have wanted to do it, but now they feel like the clock is running out,” Carla Lantz, gender-affirming hormone therapy program director, said. “They had to get established with care or they wouldn’t have the option to do that.”

For some, it is a financial burden to be forced to start their medical transition now.

“I’ve seen some folks that have been trying to manage their transition themselves with internet-prescribed medications or what they can get from other friends sharing medication,” Lantz said. “So it’s a really dangerous spot.”

Most of the patients receiving hormone therapy at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri are adults, she said.&nbsp;

Planned Parenthood of the Great Plains, which operates in Columbia and the Kansas City region, didn’t have any minors prior to the law and will not take minors that have been turned away from current providers, a spokesperson told The Independent.

The attorney general’s office identified three other providers of gender-affirming care for minors in Missouri and sent them warning letters of the new law.

Children’s Mercy in Kansas City sent a statement to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/missouri-ag-sends-letters-to-health-care-providers-to-cease-gender-transitioning-care-for-minors">KSHB-TV</a>&nbsp;saying it was “complying with the new law” but has otherwise not announced an operational change.

AIDS Project of the Ozarks, in Springfield, did not respond to a request for comment about the law.

Southampton Community Healthcare, which provides gender-affirming care in St. Louis, is a plaintiff in the ACLU of Missouri’s lawsuit against Missouri’s restrictions. On Friday,&nbsp;Bailey filed a counterclaim against Southampton Healthcare, alleging it provided transgender care to minors without a “comprehensive mental health assessment.”

The attorney general cited the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, a law used to prosecute fraudulent business practices like telemarketing scams. The ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal, which represent Southampton, called Bailey’s countersuit a&nbsp;“<a target="_blank" href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/st-louis-transgender-clinic-blasts-missouri-ags-suit-as-desperate-overreach/article_d0745fb8-5bac-11ee-9947-7bb81d782b60.html">desperate overreach</a>.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695730023791.png" alt="A group protesting MU Health's cancelation of transgender minors' prescriptions chants as it walks toward Columbia City Hall (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>A group protesting MU Health's cancelation of transgender minors' prescriptions chants as it walks toward Columbia City Hall (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The law allows minors already receiving treatment to continue, but a cause-of-action provision has some facilities abandoning the practice altogether out of fear of future litigation</h2>By ANNELISE HANSHAW,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/01/30/open-enrollment-missouri-school-choice/">Missouri Independent</a>Harry Castilow said his family did “all the things you’re supposed to do” when his teenage son Jay came out as transgender.Jay began his social transition in 2021 when he was 15, choosing his name and living as a teenage boy. He went to therapy throughout that first year and got appointments with a new primary-care doctor and an endocrinologist, a doctor that specializes in hormones.When Jay began hormone-replacement therapy a little over a year after coming out, his father could see the change in him.“It helped him immensely,” Castilow said at a rally in support of transgender rights on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus Sept. 15.“I can see my boy. I saw my son,” he said through tears. “We thought we were safe. We were told we were safe. They told us we were safe.”On Aug. 28, as a law went into effect banning minors from beginning new gender-affirming treatments, Jay’s mom received a call. His doctor at the University of Missouri would no longer treat him.MU Health stopped providing gender-affirming care for minors when the law went into effect, citing “significant legal liability” in a statement to The Independent. On Sept. 11, Washington University in St. Louis also ceased care for transgender youth that were still eligible to receive care.Patients, parents and activists say they feel like the statute of limitations provision of the law undermines the compromise worked out this year in the Missouri Senate — that ended Democrats’ filibuster and opened the door for the bill’s passage — to allow transgender minors who were already receiving gender-affirming treatment to continue.&nbsp;Most say they never saw it coming, assuming that while the new law would bar new patients from getting care, it wouldn’t upend treatments for those already grandfathered in. And some say the provision is reminiscent of laws that for years have targeted access to abortion.“This is the same kind of issue that we have run into forever with abortion health care, gender-affirming health care and birth control,” Carla Lantz, gender-affirming hormone therapy program director for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, told&nbsp; The Independent.“It should not be a political move to get life-saving care, it just shouldn’t.”<h2>The abortion playbook</h2>As Washington University revoked prescriptions for minors in its Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital — which is currently facing an investigation by Missouri’s attorney general — it cited fears of lawsuits.“Missouri’s newly enacted law regarding transgender care has created a new legal claim for patients who received these medications as minors. This legal claim creates unsustainable liability for health-care professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue to provide comprehensive transgender care for minor patients without subjecting the university and our providers to an unacceptable level of liability,” the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://source.wustl.edu/2023/09/statement-on-washington-university-transgender-center/">university’s Sept. 11 statement</a>&nbsp;says.Over the last three decades, states have increasingly turned to medical liability laws to restrict abortion access, allowing doctors to be sued for injuries to an “unborn child or mother.”Missouri was the first state to pass a “trigger ban,” restricting abortions unless the parent’s life is at risk, as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.Previously, the state required abortion providers to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers. The legislature passed further restrictions in 2019, like requiring consent from all of a minors’ guardians, which were blocked in court.The ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal have challenged Missouri’s restrictions on gender-affirming care, and a circuit court judge denied the request to block the law prior to its effective date.In&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Response%20in%20Opposition%20to%20Motion%20for%20Preliminary%20Injunction.PDF?courtCode=19&amp;di=2883930">his written response opposing a preliminary injunction</a>, Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine cited Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade — on nine occasions.Attorney General Andrew Bailey, in an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023-09-14-FILED-Brandt-v.-Griffin-States-Amicus-Brief.pdf">amicus brief</a>&nbsp;in support of states with gender-affirming-care restriction, supported Arkansas’ currently blocked ban by also citing Dobbs.“This is the playbook for abortion care,” Lantz said. “We know how they have a long game that they played to make abortion care something other than health care. But the group that’s under scrutiny right now is trans and gender-expansive folks.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695730075957.png" alt="A group of over 200 protesting MU Health’s cancelation of transgender minors’ prescriptions begins a rally at the University of Missouri campus September 15 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>A group of over 200 protesting MU Health’s cancelation of transgender minors’ prescriptions begins a rally at the University of Missouri campus September 15 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Madeline Johnson, an attorney based in Platte City with a focus on LGBTQ law, told The Independent she sees “a tremendous amount of overlap” between lawmakers’ abortion and gender-affirming-care policies.“I see it to be an attempt by religious conservatives to overstep their bounds and control the health, rights and medical treatment of other persons who don’t agree with their faith,” she said.Missouri’s gender-affirming-care restrictions give patients 15 years or 15 years after their 21st birthday, whichever is later, to file a cause of action against the medical provider.In Missouri’s medical malpractice lawsuits, patients have two years to file a claim. But this law is very different, Johnson said.The new law defines harm as infertility caused by the puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. Fertility is uncertain when patients receive cross-sex hormones, and medical providers are instructed to refer patients for fertility counseling prior to prescribing hormone-replacement therapy.This section exempts itself from the part of the state law which&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://law.justia.com/codes/missouri/2022/title-xxxvi/chapter-538/">outlines medical malpractice proceedings</a>. Patients who are harmed, as defined in this ban, can be awarded a minimum of $500,000 with no maximum, and the burden of proof is on the medical provider to give “clear and convincing evidence.”Typically, patients are limited to the cost of their expenses and up to $400,000 for noneconomic damages, and the plaintiff is responsible for proving malpractice.Johnson said, as written, patients grandfathered into the law would be able to raise a cause of action.Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, told The Independent the cause-of-action provision was intentionally written to include those who are continuing their prescriptions written prior to the law’s effective date.“Even though these kids might be well meaning and even though the medical personnel might be well meaning, there could be some harmful impact,” he said.He’s talked with activists who have regretted transition surgeries, called “detransitioners.” Two out-of-state activists spoke at a press conference hosted by Moon during the legislative session.Moon initially wasn’t in favor of a clause allowing children to continue puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, he said. Then, after talking to an activist who said she quit hormones “cold turkey” to ill effect, he thought it was important for patients to have a chance to taper off their medication.But transgender teens and their families didn’t think this clause was a chance to ween off their health care, it was an opportunity to continue their transition.<h2>Ill effects</h2>May Hall, a transgender student at the University of Missouri, told those gathered for the Columbia rally that she feels like she’s lying when she comforts younger trans kids.“It’s going to be okay,” she says. But she’s scared too.She’s watched committee hearings in the Capitol, feeling unheard by lawmakers. But it hurt to see her university backstab her community, she said.Paul Harper, a member of Columbia LGBTQ+ nonprofit The Center Project’s parent group, said some parents weren’t alerted of MU Health’s cancellations until they saw it reported in the media.&nbsp;“I have personally heard more than a dozen in the past few weeks frantic to ensure that they’re children get the care they need,” Harper, who serves on Columbia Public Schools Board of Education, told protesters.Lantz has also been fielding phone calls from anxious parents.Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri’s clinics have been seeing more patients for gender-affirming care since the law was announced. It only provides cross-sex hormones to those 16 and older, and minors must have parental consent.The law bans minors from beginning cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers, but those who have already begun treatment may continue.So between the law’s passage and its effective date, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri set up pop-up clinics to begin care.“We have heard so many stories of people saying that they’ve thought about (a medical transition for a long time and have wanted to do it, but now they feel like the clock is running out,” Carla Lantz, gender-affirming hormone therapy program director, said. “They had to get established with care or they wouldn’t have the option to do that.”For some, it is a financial burden to be forced to start their medical transition now.“I’ve seen some folks that have been trying to manage their transition themselves with internet-prescribed medications or what they can get from other friends sharing medication,” Lantz said. “So it’s a really dangerous spot.”Most of the patients receiving hormone therapy at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri are adults, she said.&nbsp;Planned Parenthood of the Great Plains, which operates in Columbia and the Kansas City region, didn’t have any minors prior to the law and will not take minors that have been turned away from current providers, a spokesperson told The Independent.The attorney general’s office identified three other providers of gender-affirming care for minors in Missouri and sent them warning letters of the new law.Children’s Mercy in Kansas City sent a statement to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/missouri-ag-sends-letters-to-health-care-providers-to-cease-gender-transitioning-care-for-minors">KSHB-TV</a>&nbsp;saying it was “complying with the new law” but has otherwise not announced an operational change.AIDS Project of the Ozarks, in Springfield, did not respond to a request for comment about the law.Southampton Community Healthcare, which provides gender-affirming care in St. Louis, is a plaintiff in the ACLU of Missouri’s lawsuit against Missouri’s restrictions. On Friday,&nbsp;Bailey filed a counterclaim against Southampton Healthcare, alleging it provided transgender care to minors without a “comprehensive mental health assessment.”The attorney general cited the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, a law used to prosecute fraudulent business practices like telemarketing scams. The ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal, which represent Southampton, called Bailey’s countersuit a&nbsp;“<a target="_blank" href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/st-louis-transgender-clinic-blasts-missouri-ags-suit-as-desperate-overreach/article_d0745fb8-5bac-11ee-9947-7bb81d782b60.html">desperate overreach</a>.”

As providers halt transgender care for minors, some feel duped by legislative deal

A national campaign launched by Big Brothers; Big Sisters aims to help show the importance a mentor can have in a child’s life. &nbsp;

Executive Director of the St. Joseph chapter Cheyenne Dorrell-Giles says the campaign focuses on the fact that one in three children in America don't have a positive leading influence&nbsp;

"And the misconception that it takes like a ton of time, a ton of money, a lot of extra skills, and to kind of say it doesn't take all that it just takes you giving a little bit of your time to make a big difference in the life of a child," Dorrell-Giles tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And so, they came up with that campaign, It Takes Little to be Big."&nbsp;

Dorrell-Giles says it being a national campaign is a benefit for local agencies which might not have the ability to produce songs and ads. &nbsp;

"We're just kind of taking what nationals is doing and trying to push it forward into our community as well," Dorrell-Giles points out.&nbsp;

Dorrell-Giles says it doesn't take as much time to volunteer as people might think.&nbsp;

"With Big Brothers Big Sisters, we ask for you to get together with your littles two to three times a month for a couple of hours, and we often say you don't have to make time for them you just share the time with them," Dorrell-Giles explains. "So, if it's something you're already doing you just include them in that, so lots of our bigs will take our littles shopping."&nbsp;

Dorrell-Giles says some bigs will take their littles on daily chores such as grocery shopping and cooking a meal with them.&nbsp;

Dorrell-Giles says the aim of the campaign is to show that it’s not a little deal, but rather that it takes a little bit of time to make a big difference in a child’s life.&nbsp;

Dorrell Giles says people might take for granted the benefits of a mentor, but sometimes being with a child can provide perspective&nbsp;

"Sometimes when we're with our littles they help us see that we do live a very privileged life and seeing life through their eyes can sometimes be humbling in that way," Dorrell-Giles says.&nbsp;

Dorrell-Giles says while it has been a great year for volunteering, there is still a waiting list for volunteers in St. Joseph&nbsp;

"But we also have over 20 littles still waiting on our waitlist for a big," Dorrell-Giles says.&nbsp;

To learn more about volunteering for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, you can click <a href="https://bbbsstjoe.squarespace.com/">HERE</a>.

By MATT PIKE&nbsp;St. Joseph Post&nbsp;A national campaign launched by Big Brothers; Big Sisters aims to help show the importance a mentor can have in a child’s life. &nbsp;Executive Director of the St. Joseph chapter Cheyenne Dorrell-Giles says the campaign focuses on the fact that one in three children in America don't have a positive leading influence&nbsp;"And the misconception that it takes like a ton of time, a ton of money, a lot of extra skills, and to kind of say it doesn't take all that it just takes you giving a little bit of your time to make a big difference in the life of a child," Dorrell-Giles tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And so, they came up with that campaign, It Takes Little to be Big."&nbsp;Dorrell-Giles says it being a national campaign is a benefit for local agencies which might not have the ability to produce songs and ads. &nbsp;"We're just kind of taking what nationals is doing and trying to push it forward into our community as well," Dorrell-Giles points out.&nbsp;Dorrell-Giles says it doesn't take as much time to volunteer as people might think.&nbsp;"With Big Brothers Big Sisters, we ask for you to get together with your littles two to three times a month for a couple of hours, and we often say you don't have to make time for them you just share the time with them," Dorrell-Giles explains. "So, if it's something you're already doing you just include them in that, so lots of our bigs will take our littles shopping."&nbsp;Dorrell-Giles says some bigs will take their littles on daily chores such as grocery shopping and cooking a meal with them.&nbsp;Dorrell-Giles says the aim of the campaign is to show that it’s not a little deal, but rather that it takes a little bit of time to make a big difference in a child’s life.&nbsp;Dorrell Giles says people might take for granted the benefits of a mentor, but sometimes being with a child can provide perspective&nbsp;"Sometimes when we're with our littles they help us see that we do live a very privileged life and seeing life through their eyes can sometimes be humbling in that way," Dorrell-Giles says.&nbsp;Dorrell-Giles says while it has been a great year for volunteering, there is still a waiting list for volunteers in St. Joseph&nbsp;"But we also have over 20 littles still waiting on our waitlist for a big," Dorrell-Giles says.&nbsp;To learn more about volunteering for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, you can click <a href="https://bbbsstjoe.squarespace.com/">HERE</a>.

Big Brothers Big Sisters launches nationwide campaign to encourage volunteers

Humboldt Elementary School could soon see new life.

At least, there is consideration of resurrecting the old
school in the north end as housing.

St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter says two developers have
floated the idea of rehabilitating the old school building into a housing unit
for around 40 workers.

“One piece of that puzzle is rehabbing that school for that,
but then they also plan to build townhomes in an open space behind the school
that could then be, actually in the long-term, converted to ownership,” Carter
tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.

In conjunction, the newly-formed <a href="https://housingimprovementinitiative.com/">Housing Improvement Initiative</a>
is working to purchase and rehabilitate older houses in the area. The group
hopes to get families that have been renting into property they can own.

Carter says the initiative will be working with families that
have always rented.

“They haven’t historically been homeowners,” according to
Carter. “So, they just haven’t explored what it takes to be a homeowner. Working
on getting them into homeownership and right now their focus is that corridor there,
so that has a significant amount of potential to bring some revitalization to
that area.”

Carter says the Housing Improvement Initiative is taking a
unique approach to rehabilitation. The group secures private funding to
renovate an abandoned house, while applying for grants to offset the cost of
rehabilitation. The initiative’s website states it will sell the restored house,
placing the proceeds into a revolving fund to be used on the next project.

Carter says the group has a specific target audience in mind.

“They’re really working a lot with the people whose families
may have always been renters. They haven’t historically been homeowners,”
Carter says. “So, they just haven’t explored what it takes to be a homeowner.”

Carter says the two projects could drastically change the
makeup of that neighborhood.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695750353191.jpeg" alt="Humboldt Elementary School/Photo by Brent Martin" />
 <figcaption>Humboldt Elementary School/Photo by Brent Martin</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostHumboldt Elementary School could soon see new life.At least, there is consideration of resurrecting the old
school in the north end as housing.St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter says two developers have
floated the idea of rehabilitating the old school building into a housing unit
for around 40 workers.“One piece of that puzzle is rehabbing that school for that,
but then they also plan to build townhomes in an open space behind the school
that could then be, actually in the long-term, converted to ownership,” Carter
tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695750419037.jpeg" alt="The Humboldt school neighborhood/Photo by Brent Martin" />
 <figcaption>The Humboldt school neighborhood/Photo by Brent Martin</figcaption>
 </figure>In conjunction, the newly-formed <a href="https://housingimprovementinitiative.com/">Housing Improvement Initiative</a>
is working to purchase and rehabilitate older houses in the area. The group
hopes to get families that have been renting into property they can own.Carter says the initiative will be working with families that
have always rented.“They haven’t historically been homeowners,” according to
Carter. “So, they just haven’t explored what it takes to be a homeowner. Working
on getting them into homeownership and right now their focus is that corridor there,
so that has a significant amount of potential to bring some revitalization to
that area.”Carter says the Housing Improvement Initiative is taking a
unique approach to rehabilitation. The group secures private funding to
renovate an abandoned house, while applying for grants to offset the cost of
rehabilitation. The initiative’s website states it will sell the restored house,
placing the proceeds into a revolving fund to be used on the next project.Carter says the group has a specific target audience in mind.“They’re really working a lot with the people whose families
may have always been renters. They haven’t historically been homeowners,”
Carter says. “So, they just haven’t explored what it takes to be a homeowner.”Carter says the two projects could drastically change the
makeup of that neighborhood.

Old Humboldt school could return to life as housing

Senator Josh Hawley last week introduced the Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement for Meatpacking Act. 

The Missouri Republican’s bill would empower antitrust enforcers to break up giant meatpacking and poultry monopolies. 

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said his group “applauds Senator Hawley’s novel approach to addressing the untenable market concentrations faced by America’s cattle and sheep producers.” 

The bill would establish two thresholds for determining the market concentration in the meatpacking industry. 

Using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, or HHI, which is a measure of market concentration presently employed by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, the bill would prohibit a merger or acquisition by a meatpacker if the HHI would exceed 1,800, or if a proposed merger or acquisition would increase the meatpacker’s current HHI Index by 100. 

The current guidelines consider an HHI below 1,500 to be unconcentrated, an HHI between 1,500 and 2,500 to be moderately concentrated, and an HHI above 2,500 to be a highly concentrated market. The Hawley bill would prohibit mergers currently considered moderately concentrated.

Senator Josh Hawley last week introduced the Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement for Meatpacking Act. The Missouri Republican’s bill would empower antitrust enforcers to break up giant meatpacking and poultry monopolies. R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said his group “applauds Senator Hawley’s novel approach to addressing the untenable market concentrations faced by America’s cattle and sheep producers.” The bill would establish two thresholds for determining the market concentration in the meatpacking industry. Using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, or HHI, which is a measure of market concentration presently employed by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, the bill would prohibit a merger or acquisition by a meatpacker if the HHI would exceed 1,800, or if a proposed merger or acquisition would increase the meatpacker’s current HHI Index by 100. The current guidelines consider an HHI below 1,500 to be unconcentrated, an HHI between 1,500 and 2,500 to be moderately concentrated, and an HHI above 2,500 to be a highly concentrated market. The Hawley bill would prohibit mergers currently considered moderately concentrated.- NAFB

Cattle group applauds Hawley’s Anti-Monopoly Bill

DEKALB COUNTY—Two people were inured in an accident just before 9p.m. Monday in DeKalb County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Ford Escort driven by a 17-year-old Union Star boy was eastbound on MO-6 one mile west of Highway J seven miles west of Maysville.

The vehicle traveled off the road to avoid a deer and struck a fence.&nbsp; A relative transported the driver to Mosaic Life Care. DeKalb-Clinton Ambulance transported a 14-year-old male passenger to Mosaic. Both were properly restrained, according to the&nbsp; MSHP.

DEKALB COUNTY—Two people were inured in an accident just before 9p.m. Monday in DeKalb County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Ford Escort driven by a 17-year-old Union Star boy was eastbound on MO-6 one mile west of Highway J seven miles west of Maysville.The vehicle traveled off the road to avoid a deer and struck a fence.&nbsp; A relative transported the driver to Mosaic Life Care. DeKalb-Clinton Ambulance transported a 14-year-old male passenger to Mosaic. Both were properly restrained, according to the&nbsp; MSHP.

2 Mo. teens injured after driver swerves to avoid a deer

By REBECCA RIVAS,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Florida lab owner explains the process of making the hemp product central to Missouri’s recall

At the center of Missouri’s massive marijuana recall is a THC concentrate, or distillate, made partially from hemp.

Robertsville-based marijuana manufacturer Delta Extraction has denied accusations that it illegally imported marijuana into the state by arguing it actually imported a non-psychoactive hemp product that was converted into THC once in Missouri.&nbsp;

The commissioner overseeing Delta’s appeal of the recall and license suspension said the company will likely lose that argument, because it’s illegal to add “hemp-derived chemically modified ‘converted’ cannabinoids” to marijuana products.

But a lab in Florida — where Delta bought a good amount of product — says the commissioner’s description of “chemically modified” isn’t quite right.&nbsp;

JJ Coombs, owner and CEO of Arvida Labs in Fort Lauderdale, walked The Independent through the extraction process to make the concentrated THC-A, a cannabinoid that must be heated to produce a high — insisting it didn’t involve a chemical conversion.

It’s a fairly new process, Coombs said, that involves breeding hemp plants to have higher concentrations of the potentially intoxicating property THC-A. And it’s a process neither the state nor Delta leaders could explain during the company’s appeal proceedings.

Unlike marijuana, hemp has very little psychoactive properties naturally — which is why it was taken off the federal controlled substance list in the 2018 farm bill. But since then, businesses like Coombs’ have been in a race to create ways to produce the most predominant psychoactive active element in marijuana, delta-9 THC, using the hemp plant.&nbsp;

“THC-A is becoming popular because it’s able to convert into delta-9,” he said. “It’s like the new hot thing… That’s what everybody wants right now.”

For Missouri’s marijuana industry, businesses like Coombs’ pose a threat to their livelihoods, especially because Missouri cannabis licensees must go through a rigorous and costly regulatory process — one that hemp companies don’t.

However, for the Missouri hemp industry, the Delta Extraction case makes their argument for them: That hemp-derived THC is legal under federal law and it’s a safe, viable business for Missouri farmers.&nbsp;

Sean Hackmann, president of the Missouri Hemp Trade Association, said Delta sold more than $20 million of distillate that was a mixture of marijuana grown in Missouri and hemp from other states.

“Twenty million dollars in the Missouri hemp industry would be huge, if that was produced, extracted and processed inside our state,” Hackmann said. “But it was all some other state that benefited from that. Not our Missouri industry.”&nbsp;

As the Delta recall winds its way though state legal proceedings, the future of the hemp industry has also been in legal flux on a federal level.

On Sept. 8, a federal judge in Arkansas&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67652494/bio-gen-llc-v-arkansas-state-of/">granted a preliminary injunction</a>&nbsp;in a lawsuit against the state, saying that hemp-derived cannabinoids, like THC-A, are protected under the 2018 farm bill.&nbsp;

But a few months before that, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cannabislegalhighlights.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2023/06/DEA-THCA-and-HHC-letter.pdf">reaffirmed its position</a>&nbsp;that all these cannabinoids are illegal under federal law and not protected by the farm bill, said&nbsp;attorney Clark Wu, an Arizona-based who specializes in hemp and cannabis law.

“Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether this judge or the DEA is more ‘right,’ as different limitations of authority constrain them,” Wu said.&nbsp;

The federal judge indicated that Congress should be the one to decide how to regulate hemp-derived THC products, Wu said.&nbsp;

“The DEA, on the other hand, is viewing everything from a criminal lens,” Wu said, “and the agency is also bound by precedent in agency decisions and international treatises concerning cannabis scheduling. These cases will likely continue to arise until Congress resolves the gap in federal hemp legislation.”

An attorney for Delta Extractions did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;

Coombs, who is an advocate within the hemp industry in Florida, says staying in line with the changing legal opinions is taxing on hemp businesses.

“You’re literally sometimes a couple of degrees away from something not being compliant and losing a lot of money,” he said.

As far as his company’s process and products, he says he’s an open book.&nbsp;

“I just want to be transparent about this,” he said, “and make sure that people understand what this is — because it is complex, right?”

The confusion about Arvida Labs’ product being made using a chemical conversion process is understandable, he said, because most people don’t know labs can extract large amounts of THC-A from the hemp plant.

The most common way to get delta-9 THC from hemp is usually a chemical conversion process from CBD, which is the more common cannabinoid in hemp.&nbsp;

And that’s exactly the process Delta’s leadership testified was being used, at one point, with its products — a revelation that&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/09/11/missouri-company-at-center-of-cannabis-recall-used-hemp-instead-of-marijuana-in-products/">shocked businesses</a>&nbsp;who purchased Delta’s distillate and thought it was made with 100% marijuana.&nbsp;

But it also&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/09/19/missouri-marijuana-regulators-defend-product-testing-regime-in-aftermath-of-recall/">outraged labs</a>&nbsp;that test cannabis products in Missouri and need to know what chemicals were used in the process in order to ensure safety tests are accurate.&nbsp;

Although Delta’s leaders were asked during appeal proceedings to explain the difference between the CBD conversion process and the THC-A product, they failed to do so.

The distinction is important, Coombs said.

Coombs says Arvida purchased the hemp from farmers in Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky who’ve learned to breed the plants to have higher concentrations of THC-A, he said, using federally-approved strains.

THC-A is not intoxicating unless you heat it up, and then it turns into delta-9 THC. For example,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-you-get-high-from-eating-raw-weed">eating raw marijuana flower</a>&nbsp;won’t produce a high because there’s only a small amount of delta-9 THC but a lot of THC-A.&nbsp;

Hemp has very little THC-A, so it takes about 90 pounds of hemp to make 1 kilo of THC-A isolate, or powder, Coombs said.&nbsp;

“It’s not that much in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “Most labs that are still in business are doing on average 16,000 pounds of extraction per day, if not more.”

The isolate is then put into oil for transport, which is why the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23933067-green-precision-lab-result">shipping labels</a>&nbsp;the state authorities presented as exhibits in the Delta Extraction case said “THC-A oil,” Coombs said. It didn’t mean that it was concentrated THC-A oil, he said, because that would make it more likely to convert into delta-9 THC before it got to Missouri — and the company went through what’s called a&nbsp;“<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23933066-decarbsop">decarboxylation</a>” process, or heating it.&nbsp;

He said Arvida’s THC-A didn’t go through an “isomeric conversion” — or the process of converting CBD to THC which often involves a variety of chemicals. Because of that, he said it would have passed all the Missouri mandated tests, which look for residue from chemicals used in the typical extraction process.&nbsp;

And because the hemp was grown in Texas, he said, so there were no foreign pesticides used that the lab wouldn’t have picked up on if the hemp was grown in another country.

However, Kevin Halderman, board member for the hemp association and a hemp business owner in Osage Beach, said he questions whether or not the hemp came from Texas.

“They don’t have to disclose that,” Halderman said. “If they’re in Florida, a lot of Florida products come from out of the country. They’re coming from Colombia, Costa Rica or Panama.”

Coombs insists that it isn’t foreign hemp.

Green Precision Analytics is one of the labs that Delta Extraction used to test the distillate at the heart of the recall. Anthony David, the lab’s owner and chief operating officer, told The Independent previously that he had no idea Delta was incorporating imported hemp in the products.

However, David also said there was no trace of the THC coming from an isomeric conversion process. Usually he can see a difference in curves of the chromatography, David said, but he didn’t in this case.&nbsp;

Coombs said that’s because it was done through a normal extraction process.&nbsp;

The question about the hemp product was discussed during a Aug. 14 hearing regarding&nbsp;Delta Extraction’s license suspension and the recall.

Delta Extraction is a licensed marijuana manufacturer that specializes in making distillate, a highly potent and pure form of THC oil used for things like vape pens and edibles.&nbsp;

On Aug. 2, the state regulating agency suspended Delta Extraction’s license after accusing the company of sourcing untested “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23910265-conference-call-delta-extraction">marijuana or converted hemp</a>&nbsp;from outside of a Missouri licensed cultivation facility.”&nbsp;

The state argues it banned importing hemp from other states and adding it to marijuana products in its&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://health.mo.gov/safety/cannabis/pdf/19csr100-emergency-rules-filed012023.pdf">emergency rules</a>&nbsp;filed on Jan. 20.

In its appeal, Delta argues that the Missouri didn’t specifically ban this process until the state’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://health.mo.gov/safety/cannabis/pdf/19csr100-proposed-rules-filed-051523.pdf">final rules</a>&nbsp;went into effect on July 30 of this year.

But Carole Iles of the Administrative Hearing Commission said in an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23933159-order-denying-motion-for-stay">Aug. 29 order</a>&nbsp;that the company will likely lose on that point. The only thing the cannabis regulating agency, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, added to this line in the final rules was the clause “such as THC-A …”&nbsp;

“We agree with the department that language added to the permanent rule … did not change the requirement of the emergency rule that THC in marijuana products could only be derived from marijuana cultivated by a Missouri-licensed cultivation facility,” the order states.

The hemp association does not have an official position on the Delta case. However, Halderman said he’s personally “sad” that customers were misled.&nbsp;

At some point, Delta Extraction was taking CBD and chemically converting it into THC. They were then adding it to THC concentrate from Missouri-grown marijuana concentrate and not disclosing that to marijuana customers.

“They were straight up lied to,” Halderman said.&nbsp;

Probably the most frustrating piece for Halderman, he said, is that Missouri industry leaders have consistently been using “rhetoric” that hemp-derived THC products are unsafe. This spring, marijuana industry leaders also pushed for legislation to regulate hemp-derived THC products, and Halderman said it would’ve killed their industry.&nbsp;

This spring was also the time when Delta Extraction was selling large amounts of the distillate that led to the recall.&nbsp;

“At the same time that they’re trying to make us illegal, they were using our whole process,” he said. “Not a portion of it, our whole process.”

During the hearing, Iles was trying to understand more about what Delta Extraction was doing. She said the company leaders and state officials were using the CBD and THC-A oils “interchangeably.”&nbsp;

“I think the testimony was kind of unclear,” Iles said at the hearing. “It looks like we’re all kind of confused here.”

Coombs said that marijuana companies who purchased Delta’s distillate should not feel “duped” because the same extraction process used to get delta-9 THC from marijuana was used to get THC-A from hemp.&nbsp;

“It’s the same exact thing,” he said. “There’s no difference. Hemp is cannabis, just with no delta-9 THC.”

Both hemp and marijuana belong to the same species, Cannabis sativa, and the two plants look somewhat similar. The defining difference between hemp and marijuana is how much delta-9 THC they each have.

By federal law, marijuana refers to all parts of the plant cannabis sativa with more than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight. Hemp is any part of the plant containing less than that.

Wu, along with leaders of Missouri’s hemp industry, call these definitions “legal fiction” because it’s all the same plant.&nbsp;

“Seeds have no THC,” Wu said. “So even though certain seeds can be cultivated into ‘cannabis plants,’ some operators – hemp and marijuana – have taken advantage of the current state of law and lack of federal enforcement to sell seeds across the United States. That is likely how the Florida operator acquired hemp and high THC strains of plants for THCa production.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695684717994.png" alt=" On Sept. 8, a federal judge in Arkansas granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the state, saying that hemp-derived cannabinoids, like THC-A, are protected under the 2018 farm bill (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> On Sept. 8, a federal judge in Arkansas granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the state, saying that hemp-derived cannabinoids, like THC-A, are protected under the 2018 farm bill (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>By REBECCA RIVAS,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a><h2>Florida lab owner explains the process of making the hemp product central to Missouri’s recall</h2>At the center of Missouri’s massive marijuana recall is a THC concentrate, or distillate, made partially from hemp.Robertsville-based marijuana manufacturer Delta Extraction has denied accusations that it illegally imported marijuana into the state by arguing it actually imported a non-psychoactive hemp product that was converted into THC once in Missouri.&nbsp;The commissioner overseeing Delta’s appeal of the recall and license suspension said the company will likely lose that argument, because it’s illegal to add “hemp-derived chemically modified ‘converted’ cannabinoids” to marijuana products.But a lab in Florida — where Delta bought a good amount of product — says the commissioner’s description of “chemically modified” isn’t quite right.&nbsp;JJ Coombs, owner and CEO of Arvida Labs in Fort Lauderdale, walked The Independent through the extraction process to make the concentrated THC-A, a cannabinoid that must be heated to produce a high — insisting it didn’t involve a chemical conversion.It’s a fairly new process, Coombs said, that involves breeding hemp plants to have higher concentrations of the potentially intoxicating property THC-A. And it’s a process neither the state nor Delta leaders could explain during the company’s appeal proceedings.Unlike marijuana, hemp has very little psychoactive properties naturally — which is why it was taken off the federal controlled substance list in the 2018 farm bill. But since then, businesses like Coombs’ have been in a race to create ways to produce the most predominant psychoactive active element in marijuana, delta-9 THC, using the hemp plant.&nbsp;“THC-A is becoming popular because it’s able to convert into delta-9,” he said. “It’s like the new hot thing… That’s what everybody wants right now.”For Missouri’s marijuana industry, businesses like Coombs’ pose a threat to their livelihoods, especially because Missouri cannabis licensees must go through a rigorous and costly regulatory process — one that hemp companies don’t.However, for the Missouri hemp industry, the Delta Extraction case makes their argument for them: That hemp-derived THC is legal under federal law and it’s a safe, viable business for Missouri farmers.&nbsp;Sean Hackmann, president of the Missouri Hemp Trade Association, said Delta sold more than $20 million of distillate that was a mixture of marijuana grown in Missouri and hemp from other states.“Twenty million dollars in the Missouri hemp industry would be huge, if that was produced, extracted and processed inside our state,” Hackmann said. “But it was all some other state that benefited from that. Not our Missouri industry.”&nbsp;As the Delta recall winds its way though state legal proceedings, the future of the hemp industry has also been in legal flux on a federal level.On Sept. 8, a federal judge in Arkansas&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67652494/bio-gen-llc-v-arkansas-state-of/">granted a preliminary injunction</a>&nbsp;in a lawsuit against the state, saying that hemp-derived cannabinoids, like THC-A, are protected under the 2018 farm bill.&nbsp;But a few months before that, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cannabislegalhighlights.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2023/06/DEA-THCA-and-HHC-letter.pdf">reaffirmed its position</a>&nbsp;that all these cannabinoids are illegal under federal law and not protected by the farm bill, said&nbsp;attorney Clark Wu, an Arizona-based who specializes in hemp and cannabis law.“Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether this judge or the DEA is more ‘right,’ as different limitations of authority constrain them,” Wu said.&nbsp;The federal judge indicated that Congress should be the one to decide how to regulate hemp-derived THC products, Wu said.&nbsp;“The DEA, on the other hand, is viewing everything from a criminal lens,” Wu said, “and the agency is also bound by precedent in agency decisions and international treatises concerning cannabis scheduling. These cases will likely continue to arise until Congress resolves the gap in federal hemp legislation.”An attorney for Delta Extractions did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp;<h2>Arvida’s process</h2>Coombs, who is an advocate within the hemp industry in Florida, says staying in line with the changing legal opinions is taxing on hemp businesses.“You’re literally sometimes a couple of degrees away from something not being compliant and losing a lot of money,” he said.As far as his company’s process and products, he says he’s an open book.&nbsp;“I just want to be transparent about this,” he said, “and make sure that people understand what this is — because it is complex, right?”The confusion about Arvida Labs’ product being made using a chemical conversion process is understandable, he said, because most people don’t know labs can extract large amounts of THC-A from the hemp plant.The most common way to get delta-9 THC from hemp is usually a chemical conversion process from CBD, which is the more common cannabinoid in hemp.&nbsp;And that’s exactly the process Delta’s leadership testified was being used, at one point, with its products — a revelation that&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/09/11/missouri-company-at-center-of-cannabis-recall-used-hemp-instead-of-marijuana-in-products/">shocked businesses</a>&nbsp;who purchased Delta’s distillate and thought it was made with 100% marijuana.&nbsp;But it also&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/09/19/missouri-marijuana-regulators-defend-product-testing-regime-in-aftermath-of-recall/">outraged labs</a>&nbsp;that test cannabis products in Missouri and need to know what chemicals were used in the process in order to ensure safety tests are accurate.&nbsp;Although Delta’s leaders were asked during appeal proceedings to explain the difference between the CBD conversion process and the THC-A product, they failed to do so.The distinction is important, Coombs said.Coombs says Arvida purchased the hemp from farmers in Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky who’ve learned to breed the plants to have higher concentrations of THC-A, he said, using federally-approved strains.THC-A is not intoxicating unless you heat it up, and then it turns into delta-9 THC. For example,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-you-get-high-from-eating-raw-weed">eating raw marijuana flower</a>&nbsp;won’t produce a high because there’s only a small amount of delta-9 THC but a lot of THC-A.&nbsp;Hemp has very little THC-A, so it takes about 90 pounds of hemp to make 1 kilo of THC-A isolate, or powder, Coombs said.&nbsp;“It’s not that much in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “Most labs that are still in business are doing on average 16,000 pounds of extraction per day, if not more.”The isolate is then put into oil for transport, which is why the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23933067-green-precision-lab-result">shipping labels</a>&nbsp;the state authorities presented as exhibits in the Delta Extraction case said “THC-A oil,” Coombs said. It didn’t mean that it was concentrated THC-A oil, he said, because that would make it more likely to convert into delta-9 THC before it got to Missouri — and the company went through what’s called a&nbsp;“<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23933066-decarbsop">decarboxylation</a>” process, or heating it.&nbsp;He said Arvida’s THC-A didn’t go through an “isomeric conversion” — or the process of converting CBD to THC which often involves a variety of chemicals. Because of that, he said it would have passed all the Missouri mandated tests, which look for residue from chemicals used in the typical extraction process.&nbsp;And because the hemp was grown in Texas, he said, so there were no foreign pesticides used that the lab wouldn’t have picked up on if the hemp was grown in another country.However, Kevin Halderman, board member for the hemp association and a hemp business owner in Osage Beach, said he questions whether or not the hemp came from Texas.“They don’t have to disclose that,” Halderman said. “If they’re in Florida, a lot of Florida products come from out of the country. They’re coming from Colombia, Costa Rica or Panama.”Coombs insists that it isn’t foreign hemp.Green Precision Analytics is one of the labs that Delta Extraction used to test the distillate at the heart of the recall. Anthony David, the lab’s owner and chief operating officer, told The Independent previously that he had no idea Delta was incorporating imported hemp in the products.However, David also said there was no trace of the THC coming from an isomeric conversion process. Usually he can see a difference in curves of the chromatography, David said, but he didn’t in this case.&nbsp;Coombs said that’s because it was done through a normal extraction process.&nbsp;<h2>Delta’s appeal</h2>The question about the hemp product was discussed during a Aug. 14 hearing regarding&nbsp;Delta Extraction’s license suspension and the recall.Delta Extraction is a licensed marijuana manufacturer that specializes in making distillate, a highly potent and pure form of THC oil used for things like vape pens and edibles.&nbsp;On Aug. 2, the state regulating agency suspended Delta Extraction’s license after accusing the company of sourcing untested “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23910265-conference-call-delta-extraction">marijuana or converted hemp</a>&nbsp;from outside of a Missouri licensed cultivation facility.”&nbsp;The state argues it banned importing hemp from other states and adding it to marijuana products in its&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://health.mo.gov/safety/cannabis/pdf/19csr100-emergency-rules-filed012023.pdf">emergency rules</a>&nbsp;filed on Jan. 20.In its appeal, Delta argues that the Missouri didn’t specifically ban this process until the state’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://health.mo.gov/safety/cannabis/pdf/19csr100-proposed-rules-filed-051523.pdf">final rules</a>&nbsp;went into effect on July 30 of this year.But Carole Iles of the Administrative Hearing Commission said in an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23933159-order-denying-motion-for-stay">Aug. 29 order</a>&nbsp;that the company will likely lose on that point. The only thing the cannabis regulating agency, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, added to this line in the final rules was the clause “such as THC-A …”&nbsp;“We agree with the department that language added to the permanent rule … did not change the requirement of the emergency rule that THC in marijuana products could only be derived from marijuana cultivated by a Missouri-licensed cultivation facility,” the order states.The hemp association does not have an official position on the Delta case. However, Halderman said he’s personally “sad” that customers were misled.&nbsp;At some point, Delta Extraction was taking CBD and chemically converting it into THC. They were then adding it to THC concentrate from Missouri-grown marijuana concentrate and not disclosing that to marijuana customers.“They were straight up lied to,” Halderman said.&nbsp;Probably the most frustrating piece for Halderman, he said, is that Missouri industry leaders have consistently been using “rhetoric” that hemp-derived THC products are unsafe. This spring, marijuana industry leaders also pushed for legislation to regulate hemp-derived THC products, and Halderman said it would’ve killed their industry.&nbsp;This spring was also the time when Delta Extraction was selling large amounts of the distillate that led to the recall.&nbsp;“At the same time that they’re trying to make us illegal, they were using our whole process,” he said. “Not a portion of it, our whole process.”<h2>‘Unclear’ testimony</h2>During the hearing, Iles was trying to understand more about what Delta Extraction was doing. She said the company leaders and state officials were using the CBD and THC-A oils “interchangeably.”&nbsp;“I think the testimony was kind of unclear,” Iles said at the hearing. “It looks like we’re all kind of confused here.”Coombs said that marijuana companies who purchased Delta’s distillate should not feel “duped” because the same extraction process used to get delta-9 THC from marijuana was used to get THC-A from hemp.&nbsp;“It’s the same exact thing,” he said. “There’s no difference. Hemp is cannabis, just with no delta-9 THC.”Both hemp and marijuana belong to the same species, Cannabis sativa, and the two plants look somewhat similar. The defining difference between hemp and marijuana is how much delta-9 THC they each have.By federal law, marijuana refers to all parts of the plant cannabis sativa with more than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight. Hemp is any part of the plant containing less than that.Wu, along with leaders of Missouri’s hemp industry, call these definitions “legal fiction” because it’s all the same plant.&nbsp;“Seeds have no THC,” Wu said. “So even though certain seeds can be cultivated into ‘cannabis plants,’ some operators – hemp and marijuana – have taken advantage of the current state of law and lack of federal enforcement to sell seeds across the United States. That is likely how the Florida operator acquired hemp and high THC strains of plants for THCa production.”

Confusion continues over how hemp was processed in recalled Missouri cannabis products

ATCHISON COUNTY—One person was injured in an accident just before 7:30a.m. Monday in Atchison County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2019 Freightliner semi driven by Frank A. Roberts, 35, Kansas City, was southbound on U.S. 59 one and one half miles north of Tarkio.

The driver fell asleep. The semi traveled off the right side of the road and overturned. Atchison-Holt ambulance transported Roberts to Fairfax Community Hospital.&nbsp; He was properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

ATCHISON COUNTY—One person was injured in an accident just before 7:30a.m. Monday in Atchison County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2019 Freightliner semi driven by Frank A. Roberts, 35, Kansas City, was southbound on U.S. 59 one and one half miles north of Tarkio.The driver fell asleep. The semi traveled off the right side of the road and overturned. Atchison-Holt ambulance transported Roberts to Fairfax Community Hospital.&nbsp; He was properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

Mo. driver injured after he falls asleep and semi overturns

For a sixth consecutive year Northwest Missouri State University saw an enrollment growth.  

Even more exciting than six years of consecutive growth, for the first time Northwest hit an enrollment number of more than 9,000 enrolled students, with an enrollment mark of 9,664 students. 

New President Lance Tatum calls hitting that number exciting and historic. 

"To pass the 9,000 enrollment mark is really something that we have talked about, at least upon my arrival here in June, I don't think anybody wanted to talk about it openly but certainly we knew that there were going to be some gains particularly in our dual credit and online areas that might push us close to that number," Tatum tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.  

Northwest also saw gains in the number of graduate and international students. 

Tatum says now the university is turning its eyes to next year and figuring out ways to increase the number of students physically on campus. 

Tatum, who took over the position in June, says he was excited to come on board knowing the university already had five years of growth. 

"And certainly, as we looked at the opportunities coming for the fall, we saw that opportunity again to be able to grow one more time at least in our overall head count," Tatum says. 

Tatum says it's exciting to see the growth especially when you look at enrollment numbers across the country 

"We talk about universities really struggling with enrollment growth, it's a little bit of an anomaly to see a university like Northwest grow as consistently as they have been," Tatum explains. 

With six consecutive years of growth in enrollment at Northwest, now officials' eyes turn to continuing to sustain that growth.  

Tatum says in order to maintain that successful growth, the university needs to work hard to stay in the affordability band. 

"In other words, we're going to have to work very hard to keep the cost of operating the university at a level that allows us to try to offer a tuition price point that attracts students to the university," Tatum says. "But we also that students are very interested in scholarships that allow them to narrow the gap of costs when they go to a university." 

Tatum says he and his staff worked hard over the summer to modify the scholarship model to give more broad opportunities to attract students and stay in the market for both in and out of state students.   

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681826188311.jpeg" alt="File photo" />
 <figcaption>File photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By MATT PIKE St. Joseph Post For a sixth consecutive year Northwest Missouri State University saw an enrollment growth. Even more exciting than six years of consecutive growth, for the first time Northwest hit an enrollment number of more than 9,000 enrolled students, with an enrollment mark of 9,664 students. New President Lance Tatum calls hitting that number exciting and historic. "To pass the 9,000 enrollment mark is really something that we have talked about, at least upon my arrival here in June, I don't think anybody wanted to talk about it openly but certainly we knew that there were going to be some gains particularly in our dual credit and online areas that might push us close to that number," Tatum tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. Northwest also saw gains in the number of graduate and international students. Tatum says now the university is turning its eyes to next year and figuring out ways to increase the number of students physically on campus. Tatum, who took over the position in June, says he was excited to come on board knowing the university already had five years of growth. "And certainly, as we looked at the opportunities coming for the fall, we saw that opportunity again to be able to grow one more time at least in our overall head count," Tatum says. Tatum says it's exciting to see the growth especially when you look at enrollment numbers across the country "We talk about universities really struggling with enrollment growth, it's a little bit of an anomaly to see a university like Northwest grow as consistently as they have been," Tatum explains. With six consecutive years of growth in enrollment at Northwest, now officials' eyes turn to continuing to sustain that growth. Tatum says in order to maintain that successful growth, the university needs to work hard to stay in the affordability band. "In other words, we're going to have to work very hard to keep the cost of operating the university at a level that allows us to try to offer a tuition price point that attracts students to the university," Tatum says. "But we also that students are very interested in scholarships that allow them to narrow the gap of costs when they go to a university." Tatum says he and his staff worked hard over the summer to modify the scholarship model to give more broad opportunities to attract students and stay in the market for both in and out of state students. <div><iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kfeq-news/embed/episodes/Sixth-straight-year-of-growth-brings-history-to-NWMSU-e29p18j" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div>

Northwest Missouri State University makes history with 6th straight year of growth

Congressman Sam Graves wants federal employees to
return to the office.

Graves, a Republican who represents northern
Missouri, chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which
oversees all federal public buildings. Graves says the federal government
hasn’t required employees allowed to work from home during the coronavirus
pandemic to return to the office. 

“Right now, all of our buildings out there are
occupied at somewhere between, depending on the agency, at 9 or 18%,” according
to Graves. “And they don’t want to come back to work.”

Graves says not having anyone in the office is
causing some very real headaches.

Graves says the federal government has a huge
backlog of passport applications, because the Department of State doesn’t have workers
in the office to process requests. Graves says, in response, his office has
dedicated one staff member to help with constituents waiting for their passport
applications to be approved.

“We have one person just solely doing passports,
because they won’t come back to work,” Graves says. “They’re doing all this from
home and it’s just simply not working. That’s the reason we have this huge
backlog in passport issuance, because we can’t get them to come back to work.”

Graves calls the problem within governmental
agencies an unintended consequence of the federal government’s COVID policy.

Graves says governmental agencies simply cannot
keep up with their workload on a timely basis when few employees are actually in
the office. He points out those agencies assign certain employees to venture to
the office periodically to gather mail, check on any correspondence that might
have come into the office, and begin processing requests. The Congressman says that
simply isn’t adequate.

“Because what they do is they come in once a
month and they take down their messages,” Graves says. “They do this in the
FAA. They take down the messages and they get back to them. It takes another
month to get back to them to work through all the messages on their answering
service. It’s a problem. It’s a huge problem.”

Graves says Congress is powerless to address the
problem. Graves says it’s up to the Biden administration to fix the problem.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostCongressman Sam Graves wants federal employees to
return to the office.Graves, a Republican who represents northern
Missouri, chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which
oversees all federal public buildings. Graves says the federal government
hasn’t required employees allowed to work from home during the coronavirus
pandemic to return to the office. “Right now, all of our buildings out there are
occupied at somewhere between, depending on the agency, at 9 or 18%,” according
to Graves. “And they don’t want to come back to work.”Graves says not having anyone in the office is
causing some very real headaches.Graves says the federal government has a huge
backlog of passport applications, because the Department of State doesn’t have workers
in the office to process requests. Graves says, in response, his office has
dedicated one staff member to help with constituents waiting for their passport
applications to be approved.“We have one person just solely doing passports,
because they won’t come back to work,” Graves says. “They’re doing all this from
home and it’s just simply not working. That’s the reason we have this huge
backlog in passport issuance, because we can’t get them to come back to work.”Graves calls the problem within governmental
agencies an unintended consequence of the federal government’s COVID policy.Graves says governmental agencies simply cannot
keep up with their workload on a timely basis when few employees are actually in
the office. He points out those agencies assign certain employees to venture to
the office periodically to gather mail, check on any correspondence that might
have come into the office, and begin processing requests. The Congressman says that
simply isn’t adequate.“Because what they do is they come in once a
month and they take down their messages,” Graves says. “They do this in the
FAA. They take down the messages and they get back to them. It takes another
month to get back to them to work through all the messages on their answering
service. It’s a problem. It’s a huge problem.”Graves says Congress is powerless to address the
problem. Graves says it’s up to the Biden administration to fix the problem.

Congressman Graves wants federal employees back in the office

American farmers and ranchers were in Washington, D.C., September 17-22, to state their opposition to the EATS Act. 

The Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression Act was introduced by Representative Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS). 

Groups like the Organization for Competitive Markets, Competitive Markets Action, and several others said the act would nullify more than a thousand state and local agriculture laws. 

American farmers and ranchers were in Washington, D.C., September 17-22, to state their opposition to the EATS Act. The Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression Act was introduced by Representative Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS). Groups like the Organization for Competitive Markets, Competitive Markets Action, and several others said the act would nullify more than a thousand state and local agriculture laws. Those laws are in place to protect communities from a number of issues like invasive pests and livestock diseases. The absence of local regulations would create an environment in which foreign conglomerates could rapidly expand across all 50 states. “If EATS is included in the upcoming farm bill, it will mark the end of American family farming as we know it,” says Deborah Mills, a director with the Organization for Competitive Markets. The organizations also advocated for the inclusion of the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act.- NAFB

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