This investigation aims to find out if cannabis regulators operate “in an efficient, transparent and accountable manner.”
By Jason Hancock of the Missouri Independent
Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick has launched an investigation into Missouri’s marijuana program. He promised to determine whether regulators operate “in a way that is efficient and accountable.”
This audit is not routine or scheduled. Fitzpatrick initiated the audit after he promised last year, during his campaign, to examine how Missouri oversees cannabis legalization.
The report will include both medical and recreational cannabis programs. It will go back to the first time Missouri voters approved medical marijuana in 2018. Fitzpatrick auditors met for the first with officials from the Department of Health and Senior Services on August 2.
Fitzpatrick’s official website did not announce the investigation, but Fitzpatrick’s list of ongoing audits included the marijuana program .
Fitzpatrick is a first-term Republican, from Shell Knob. He told The Independent in an email that the audit came about because marijuana will be a $1 Billion industry in Missouri, and that the amendments to legalize it “represent the most significant changes to our state constitution that we have seen in recent years.”
Fitzpatrick stated that “these provisions now account for more than one fifth of the language used in our state constitution.”
He said: “The rules promulgated by these programs govern hundreds marijuana facilities across Missouri, which cultivate and sale cannabis products to hundreds thousands of Missourians every year.”
Lisa Cox said that the DHSS has been notified by the State Auditor’s Office to work with them on an audit of their marijuana program at the Division of Cannabis Regulation.
The auditor’s will be the latest office to try to dig into the inner-workings of a federal program that has been scrutinized by state legislators and federal law enforcement.
Missouri’s medical marijuana industry exploded after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow it in 2018. The state’s decision to cap the number of licenses it would grant for cannabis production, sale and manufacturing fueled fierce competition.
In early 2020, the Missouri House began an investigation into how license applications are scored. This was sparked by reports of irregularities and accusations that conflicts of interests within DHSS or a private company hired for the purpose of scoring applications could have tainted this process.
Legislators have also criticized DHSS for its decision to deem the license ownership records as confidential. They argued that this caused issues in overseeing the marijuana program.
The House of Representatives voted last year to require that state regulators reveal ownership information about businesses granted licenses. The Missouri Senate rejected the plan due to opposition from the marijuana industry.
In 2019 and 2020, Missouri marijuana regulators were served three subpoenas from federal grand juries. Each was redacted, then given to the media, at the request of federal authorities to obscure the records sought.
The FBI also interviewed local officials, lawmakers and marijuana advocates. In a deposition, a Kansas City businessman stated that federal law enforcement questioned him in 2021 about marijuana licenses in Missouri as well as utility contracts in Independence.
Last year, the FBI also interviewed several legislators including Dean Plocher, now House Speaker (R). The FBI asked questions about lobbying activities related to a bill which would have legalized cannabis for recreational use without any license cap.
The bill died in the final weeks of the legislative session, but voters approved a constitutional amendment on recreational marijuana months later.
Fitzpatrick was against the amendment to legalize recreational marijuana when he ran for auditor in 2011. Fitzpatrick said that he was not concerned about legalization but that the initiative petition would add so many regulations to the state constitution rather than state statute.
He also criticized the notion that the amendment would bolster a “government mandated monopoly”, referring to provisions which automatically grant licenses for businesses to grow and to sell recreational marijuana if they already serve the medical market.
Peter Merideth of St. Louis, a Democrat who is a frequent critic Missouri’s marijuana regulators praised the auditor, saying he believed the marijuana industry could use “more transparency, particularly with respect to licensing.”
The original publication of this story was by Missouri Independent.
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The post Missouri Auditor launches investigation of state’s marijuana program appeared initially on Marijuana Moment.
