Technology could offset employment in cannabis facilities

By Rachael Dunn

Ray McCarty, president of the Associated Industries of Missouri, led a quick discussion during an advisory committee meeting Monday that employment questions on facility applications will not tell the full story about a medical marijuana facility’s economic impact.

“I think we need to realize though some different operations may have different technology, we see this on the manufacturing side all the time. If you have more on the technology side, you need fewer people,” McCarty, pictured, far left, said. “That’s something that shouldn’t disqualify someone because they are not creating the same number of jobs as somebody else – they may be doing something in a different way and ending up with the same result.”

“There’s an appreciation at the Department that just because you have 100 employees doesn’t mean … that is the type of facility that is the best for that situation,” DHSS general counsel Richard Moore said.

“The equipment side could be higher, they could spend more on the equipment side, less on the people side and the community can still benefit through property taxes,” McCarty said.

McCarty was a member of the Advisory Committee on Economic Impact in Site Community, which assessed application questions regarding employment and the importance level of questions.

AIM is a business trade association founded in 1919.

Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services Medical Marijuana Division has created ten committees to address each of the 10 constitutional silos of questions for facility applications.

The Economic Impact committee revised and ultimately approved three questions for all facility applications. The questions ask about employment and positive community impacts.

Applications, which will be available to hopeful facilities starting June 4, are set to be blind scored for the state.