Medical marijuana application fees to bring millions to Missouri

The Missouri Department Health and Senior Services will start accepting application fees for medical marijuana facilities Saturday.

According to Article XVI of the Missouri Constitution, people who want to get into the medical marijuana business will pay a $10,000 fee for a cultivation application, a $6,000 fee for a medical marijuana-infused product manufacturing application and a $6,000 fee for a dispensary application.

The medical marijuana law also states that DHSS must grant at least 61 cultivation licenses, 87 manufacturing licenses and 192 dispensary licenses. That’s a total of 340 licenses.

If the department receives only the base amount of fees for the number of applications it must grant, almost $2.3 million will go to the department.

Steve Faber, a board member with the Missouri Cannabis Industries Association, said people will be taking a gamble applying for a license.

“It’s tremendously expensive. It’s not just the fee, the $10,000 fee or the $6,000 fee. Most people, or most consultants, will t ell you you need the help of an experienced law firm or consultant in putting together an application. Applications run, can run, a couple hundred pages. Every detail about what you plan to do,” Faber said.

Paying the application fee is the first date on the department’s timeline. People who want to get in the medical marijuana business won’t know the details they need to put in their applications until that information is available.

The fees are also nonrefundable, and there are no guarantees a license will be granted.