Missouri Oz hopes to define facilities with variety of product, family values
Cultivation and manufacturing applicant Missouri Oz, based out of Lake Ozark in Camden County, is a family affair with Lake roots.
Alison Lodge, director of communications for the group, said the group hopes to “provide consistent, high-quality products at an affordable price. We will to offer a diverse array of products without forfeiting quality.”
The majority of the group is made up of Missourians with strong family ties. The head grower is the nephew of the president and vice president of the company which includes two married couples. The company hopes to offer a full line of patient-demanded products.
Greenway: Why did you choose to apply for a cultivation and manufacturing license?
Lodge: We are passionate about providing our state’s patients with consistent, quality medicine and support. With our extensive business and manufacturing experience, we will bring a high level of professionalism to this emerging industry in Missouri.
What kind of inventory do you hope to provide for patients?
We will offer a complete line of products, based on patient demand, to provide a diversity of medicinal formulas and product application. Our products will include both high CBD/ low THC and high THC/low CBD formulas and include gummies, lollipops, baked goods, creams and transdermal patches.
What is one thing you want the industry to know about you and your business?
Our team includes two husband and wife pairs, a mother and son duo, and our lead grower is the nephew of our president and vice president. We are building this business on the backbone of family values and strong work ethic. Combining that with our team’s extensive experience in each of their fields makes us a uniquely qualified team to join this industry.
What is your relative experience?
The large majority of our core team members is made up of Missouri residents who have spent decades building and running a successful business located in the Lake of the Ozarks community. Those business skills will be combined with the expertise of a select group of highly specialized advisors and our lead grower, who has spent over ten years managing cultivation and manufacturing facilities in California. As the nephew of our president and vice president, he has been visiting Lake of the Ozarks since his childhood and looks forward to making Missouri his home.
What do you see as the outlook of the medical cannabis industry in Missouri?
We believe that our industry will exceed all expectations as to the number of patients that will be served, and with the way Amendment 2 was crafted, Missouri has an opportunity to become a leader in the country for it’s well-regulated, transparent, and fair marijuana industry.
What are your biggest concerns and hopes for the industry?
In the short term, we hope the application and licensing process will roll out smoothly and adhere to the intention of the law. Long term, our concerns lie with keeping poor quality, illegal products out of the market. As the industry evolves, we hope patients will see the positive benefits of including quality medical marijuana into their healthcare options, and that the economic benefits will be felt throughout Missouri.
What do you consider the most challenging part of entering the industry?
The application was certainly a challenging process, and we know we are facing well experienced and funded competition. The intent of Amendment 2 was to allow Missourians to become the major players in the state’s industry and we hope it plays out that way. Putting all the pieces together to form a successful plan in a budding industry took a tremendous amount of work and we look forward to turning it into reality soon.