It looks like there will be six medical marijuana dispensaries in Jefferson County – one in House Springs, one in Imperial, another in Hillsboro, one in Pevely and two in the Festus area.
On Jan. 24, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced it had awarded licenses for those six dispensaries.
North Medical Group LLC received two dispensary licenses and will be able to sell medical marijuana products at 929 Peachtree Plaza Drive in Hillsboro and 1709 Hwy. Z in Pevely. However, the company, which is owned by Zach Mangelsdorf of St. Louis, was denied state dispensary licenses for locations in Arnold, Eureka and Festus.
North Medical Group also was denied three cultivation licenses and a medical marijuana-infused product manufacturing license it sought to operate at 9001 Hensley Road in Hillsboro.
“It is a relief more than anything (to get the two dispensary licenses),” said Mangelsdorf, who also is the president of Home Service Oil Co., which is based in Barnhart and operates nine gas stations and convenience stores in Jefferson and Washington counties. “We are disappointed that we didn’t get all of the licenses that we applied for, but we are grateful and honored to be part of Missouri’s medical cannabis industry.”
Other companies to receive dispensary licenses were:
■ Nirvana Bliss III LLC, which received two licenses and will operate at 3 Waters Plaza, House Springs, and 2285 Hwy. 67, south of Festus
■ VG Imperial LLC, 1229 Main St., Imperial
■ Occidental Groups Inc., 1168 W. Gannon Drive, Festus
Mangelsdorf said it will take at least until June before his company’s dispensaries can open.
“Our opening schedule is dependent on the schedule of cultivators’ ability to bring product to market,” he said. “The commencement for facilities is February, early March, and that is the earliest cultivators will begin. I would say at the most aggressive time frame, we would look at June for retail sales to begin. But that is dependent more on the cultivators than us.”
Marijuana-infused product manufacturing licenses
In addition, the state announced on Jan. 10 that it had approved licenses for three medical marijuana infused-product manufacturing sites in Jefferson County, including ones for 5150 Processing LLC, 2285 Hwy. 67, south of Festus; CMOY LLC, 1255 N. Truman Blvd., Festus; and Robust Missouri Process and Manufacturing 2 LLC, 7079 Whitewater Drive, in Dittmer.
With the six dispensary and three manufacturing licenses, the state has approved licenses for 11 medical marijuana-related businesses in Jefferson County.
Missouri voters legalized medical marijuana in November 2018.
The state has awarded 192 dispensary licenses and 86 medical marijuana-infused product manufacturing licenses. There were 1,201 applications for dispensaries and 423 applications to operate a marijuana infused-product manufacturing facility.
In Jefferson County, 27 applications were filed for dispensary licenses and eight applications were filed for marijuana infused-product manufacturing licenses, according to the DHSS.
On Dec. 23, the DHSS announced that Bold Lane Logistics LLC was awarded a transportation license. The facility is to be located at 2285 Hwy. 61-67 in Festus.
On Dec. 19, DHSS announced that GCA Inc., which will operate at 1535 McNutt St. in Herculaneum, received a license to run a lab-testing facility.
Nine companies, with two submitting multiple applications for the same site to have expanded growing capacity, had applied for licenses to grow medical marijuana. However, all of those applications were denied a state license, the DHSS announced on Dec. 26.
Licenses denied
Companies denied dispensary licenses in Jefferson County were:
■ Medical Solutions of Missouri LLC, 1845 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ Terra Leaf LLC, 3874 Vogel Road, Arnold
■ Curador Wellness 940 LLC, 944 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ SB Dispensary Holdings LLC, 2700 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ Generations LLC, 1671 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ Med West Metro LLC, 537 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ CBDED LLC, 8771 Commercial Blvd., Pevely
■ HCSTL LLC, 2302 N. Truman Blvd., Crystal City
■ CMOY LLC, 521 N. Truman Blvd., Crystal City
■ Bright Green Missouri LLC, which applied for licenses to operate at 1189 Scenic Drive, Herculaneum, and 1001 Imperial Main St., Imperial
■ Green to Cure Inc., which applied for licenses to operate at 1535 McNutt St., Herculaneum, and 1230 Abbey Lane, Pevely
■ Burnie’s Dispensary LLC, 6850 Hwy. 61-67, Imperial
■ Jeffco Dispensary, 8085 Hwy. 30, Dittmer
■ Missouri Medical Marijuana Collective LLC, 622 Collins Drive, Festus
■ Green Cloud LLC, 376 Festus Centre Drive, Festus
■ Greenhouse Relief, which applied for licenses to operate at 1164 E. Gannon Drive, Festus, and 418 S. Main St., De Soto
In addition to North Medical Group, companies denied cultivation licenses in Jefferson County were:
■ 1140 Huber LLC, 1140 Huber St., Festus
■ Missouri Marijuana Group LLC, 2753 Flucom Road, De Soto
■ Bright Green Missouri LLC, 5604 Hwy. 61-67, Imperial
■ Greenhouse Releaf LLC, 418 S. Main St., De Soto
The applicants for licenses were scored in a blind process before the licenses were awarded. The facilities being licensed are the top-scoring facilities that meet all eligibility requirements, the DHSS said.
Jason Fulbright, an Arnold Ward 1 councilman and a real estate agent, is one of the owners of Bright Green Missouri. The company had applied for a cultivation, manufacturing and two dispensary licenses and was denied all four.
“It is disappointing,” Fulbright said. “We put together what we felt were really good applications for each license. We put together a team that I still think has some quality experience and skills to be in this industry and be successful and do it safely and correctly. We’ve known all along this is something that could happen. This has happened in practically every other state, where licenses have been an issue and there have been appeals and lawsuits.”
Fulbright said his company has appealed its denial for the cultivation license and plans to file appeals for the dispensary and marijuana-infused product manufacturing licenses as well.
“I’ve always said and felt that the competition should be in the market and not the licensing,” Fulbright said. “I applaud everyone who got their licenses. I’m happy for those groups and hope they can do a good job. The point of the appeal is we feel we have a really good business plan put together. We think we have a good team put together. We are just looking for a chance to join this industry.”
Mangelsdorf said his company also is filing appeals over the licenses it was denied.
Both Mangelsdorf and Fulbright, as well as others who have filed appeals, say one of the main points of contention is how applications were scored.
Many applicants have said applications they submitted with identical answers have received different scores.
“According to the rules, if you have the same answer, it should be scored the same way,” Mangelsdorf said. “We are disappointed in the scoring process. I can’t blame the DHSS because they used a third-party scoring company. It is frustrating to see we received two (dispensary) licenses where we should have received five, if all scores were scored equally. With that said, we are happy to be part of the industry.”
The DHSS is expected to award seed-to-sale facility certifications on Jan. 31.