JEFFERSON CITY — The Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation at the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced Saturday a medical marijuana testing facility has passed its commencement inspection, according to a media release.
With cultivation, dispensary, and testing facilities now operational, medical marijuana will soon be available to Missouri patients.
Director of the Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation Lyndall Fraker said, “We appreciate how hard these businesses have worked to become operational. These facilities have made it through a demanding review, and we look forward to their success in providing safe access to medical marijuana in Missouri.”
Article XIV established that implementation of a medical marijuana program should be accomplished efficiently, requiring that DHSS publicly report each year on the efficient discharge of its duties. Missouri’s implementation of its medical marijuana program has been one of the most efficient implementations in the nation, with implementation time coming in well below average, despite a pandemic.
This is particularly evident when considering Missouri has more facilities to usher through implementation than any other state except Oklahoma, which did not require some of the key safety measures required in Missouri, such as testing and tracking medical marijuana.
“The implementation of this program has been efficient yet thorough,” said Dr. Randall Williams, director of DHSS. “Much has been said in recent months of how rigorous our compliance processes are, and Missourians should be assured that this industry will be well-regulated, just as Article XIV and Missouri voters envisioned.”
The medical marijuana program’s annual report for its first year of operation was released in June and can be found here. Additional reporting on medical marijuana facilities’ progress can be found here.