Licensee hopefuls encouraged to submit applications by Friday

Those seeking a facility license for medical marijuana are being encouraged to submit their application by Friday — the day before the application window closes. 

This advisory is coming from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), whose offices will be closed on Saturday. Thus, there will be no staff available to help applicant hopefuls who come across a problem as they go to submit the necessary forms. 

The department charged with overseeing the state’s fledgling medical marijuana industry started accepting cultivation, manufacturing, dispensary and testing applications on August 3, 2019. All applications can be filled out directly on the secure, online registry until August 17, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. 

A Medical Marijuana Call Center is operating from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. to answer facility application-related inquiries made using the toll-free line or email. The state also has several application tutorial videos and scoring guides to help applicants through the process.

However, DHSS will not be open on Saturday — the last day to submit applications. 

“The Medical Marijuana Program is anticipating a high volume of facility application submissions near the end of the application window, and applications will not be accepted after 11:59 pm on Saturday, August 17. Furthermore, program staff will not be available on Saturday, August 17, to answer questions,” the state advises on their webpage. 

DHSS received 12 applications in the first 48 hours and more than 33 as of Tuesday. Stakeholders have projected as many as 1,000 applications being submitted — more than 600 businesses prefiled nonrefundable-application fees. 

The top-scoring 60 cultivation facilities, 192 dispensary facilities, and 86 medical marijuana-infused manufacturing facilities will be initially licensed for business in Missouri.

Those filling out and submitting the required paperwork have found glitches in the system, of which DHSS has a workaround for the problem.

For instance, some have had issues with the checkmark in the “yes” box on a specific question showing up when uploading the site control worksheet. A state employee dedicated to handling applications advised to fill out the worksheet on the DHSS site before saving that internet explorer produces the best results. 

“[A]pplicants are encouraged to submit their applications before COB on Friday, August 16,” the state said on their website.