Montana vertical integration executive hopes to expand to his roots in Laclede County

Top Shelf Botanicals, operational in Montana and Oklahoma, has applied for seven medical marijuana facility licenses in Missouri – where the company’s CEO calls home. Top Shelf Botanicals is an established, vertically integrated medical cannabis company.

The company is banking on local roots, legal experience, and specialized education to provide an advantage to help make their applications stand out in the competitive licensing process. They are one of over 700 groups to have applied for licenses. Over 2,100 total facility applications were filed total.

Top Shelf Botanicals CEO Dr. Wes Stucki is originally from Lebanon, located in Laclede County – where his family currently resides. Since graduating from Lebanon High School, Dr. Stucki served as chairman and CEO of a healthcare company that owned and operated pediatric, internal medicine, family practice, and urgent care clinics. Between 1983 and 1990, CEO Dr.Stucki opened over 100 multi-discipline health care clinics in 6 different states.

“Cannabis has enormous potential for growth in Missouri, and I could not be more excited to take part,” Dr. Stucki said at a recent event. “When I was approached to be involved in the Montana market, it seemed like a natural expansion of my health care background, and the last two years have proven that I was right.”

Top Shelf Botanicals began operating in Montana in July 2017 and consistently experienced month over month organic growth. This growth enabled the expansion of wholesale operations into Oklahoma in 2019, which is also a new medical cannabis state.

The company’s vertical integration strategy is one that they hope will get them to be first to market.

“The goal of Top Shelf Botanicals at the onset of approval is attempting to be first to market with premium quality flower and oil,” Lila Moreno of Top Shelf Botanicals said. “Several advantages contribute to the positive outlook of this plan. The extensive experience of the staff in the Montana market, combined with the ability to expedite build-out through industry connections, along with being fully funded create a well rounded and optimistic application team.”

They applied to cultivate and process medical cannabis in Conway, Missouri, just a few miles down Interstate 44 from Lebanon. They are planning a state of the art CO2 extraction facility and a commercial kitchen. They also applied for dispensary facility licenses in Lebanon, Springfield, Joplin, St. Joseph, and Moberly. Several of the locations will also serve as education and training centers for the cannabis community-at-large and to industry professionals alike.

Top Shelf Botanicals plans to train all staff of proposed dispensary locations as Cannacians™, (taken from Cannabis+Clinician). After completing Cannician™ Certification Training, the dispensary employees will be able to give credible product recommendations for specific patient needs, based on the most current and accepted research. Community education events will also be hosted by Top Shelf Botanicals to educate the surrounding community and respond to community questions and concerns.

“Top Shelf Botanicals is one of the few companies that has taken care to partner with cannabis educators to both train staff and educate the community as well,” said Moreno. “Through an exclusive partnership with the only CME accredited cannabis education program, Top Shelf Botanicals will be leading the state in training all budtenders as Cannicians™ and offering educational programming. Dr. Regina Nelson of the ECS Therapy Center will conduct this programming. Her training on the endocannabinoid system allows dispensary staff to make the most accurate product recommendations possible. Offering educational resources to patients also allows for the optimal results for Top Shelf’s clients.”

Further, in addition to Cannicians™ and master gardeners on staff, Top Shelf has consulted with several leading cannabis cultivation experts who will join the Missouri team upon approval, including an established soil expert and mycologist, as well as a living soil consultant, trained CO2 extraction technician, and director of infused products for Top Shelf Botanicals.

“Dr. Stucki has also traveled to Holland for a masterclass in cannabis horticulture and maintains relationships with those contacts. Top Shelf has also consulted with several experts in preparing their applications, such as soil experts and a tissue culture expert. These experts will set up and train all facilities and employees.”

In June 2019, Dr. Stucki was honored to be one of 15 applicants chosen from thousands around the world to attend a pro-master cannabis course in the Netherlands in June 2019. There, he was able to interact with top world-renowned horticultural minds in the cannabis industry. Dr. Stucki says he eager to bring that knowledge to the Missouri medical cannabis landscape, and still maintains close contact with the cannabis masterminds he met there.

A low-income assistance program has been successful in the Montana market for Top Shelf Botanicals and the program will be extended into Missouri.

Top Shelf has allocated $1.6 million for equipment and $300,000 to build-out the cultivation facility and bring the facility into compliance with state regulations.

Pending license approval, the anticipated timeline to complete the cultivation facility interior build-out will be 60-90 days. Top Shelf Botanicals can meet this aggressive timeline because the company is well-funded, and having roots in Missouri, is well-connected with local construction, HVAC, and plumbing companies. Once improvements are complete, planting will begin. The projected time frame from planting to packaging is 90 days, also due to the expert and experienced team already in place in Montana and Oklahoma.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will not begin to award licenses until December 31, 2019, at the latest. In the meantime, Dr. Stucki and the professionals are leading Top Shelf Botanicals in Montana and Oklahoma, where they’re providing “patients with the best and cleanest cannabis products available, while still hoping to bring their knowledge to Lebanon, Laclede County and beyond.”