{"id":50443,"date":"2021-10-12T09:59:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T17:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/10\/12\/federal-judge-blocks-missouri-medical-marijuana-licensing-residency-rule\/"},"modified":"2021-10-12T13:45:26","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T21:45:26","slug":"federal-judge-blocks-missouri-medical-marijuana-licensing-residency-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/10\/12\/federal-judge-blocks-missouri-medical-marijuana-licensing-residency-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Blocks Missouri Medical Marijuana Licensing Residency Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The case was filed by a marijuana investor from Pennsylvania who is a minority owner in a business awarded several Missouri licenses.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

A federal judge last week permanently blocked\u00a0Missouri from enforcing a requirement that medical marijuana licenses go to businesses owned by residents of the state.<\/p>\n

Following a bench trial Thursday, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey agreed to grant a permanent injunction. Her written order has not yet been filed. News of the injunction was\u00a0first reported by the cannabis newsletter GrownIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laughrey\u00a0granted<\/a> a temporary injunction against the requirement in June\u00a0in response to a 2020 lawsuit filed by Mark Toigo, a marijuana investor from Pennsylvania and minority owner in a Missouri business awarded several licenses.<\/p>\n

A constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018 that legalized medical marijuana<\/a> requires facilities to be \u201cmajority owned by natural persons who have been citizens of the state of Missouri for at least one year prior to the application.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toigo argues in his lawsuit that Missouri\u2019s medical marijuana market is expected to reach retail sales of $175 million to $275 million a year. But because of the residency rules he is prohibited from investing more money into any Missouri company if it increases his ownership stakes above 49 percent.<\/p>\n

The requirement, the lawsuit says, \u201climits Mr. Toigo\u2019s economic opportunities in Missouri\u2019s nascent marijuana industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her June ruling granting a temporary injunction, Laughrey wrote that the public interest is best served by \u201cthe protection of Toigo\u2019s constitutional right to fully participate in the medical marijuana business in Missouri on the same footing as a Missouri resident, a right that is likely being violated by the state\u2019s durational residency requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September,\u00a0Missouri reported<\/a> $22.9 million in medical marijuana sales, bringing the total amount purchased in Missouri to $136 million since retail sales began in late October of last year.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Senior Services will not appeal the verdict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are happy to have clarity on how we should handle the ownership residency requirement in the Missouri Constitution,\u201d said Lisa Cox, the department\u2019s spokeswoman, \u201cand will comply with the court\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Republican Ohio Lawmaker Announces Marijuana Legalization Bill, Reflecting Recent Bipartisan Shift On Issue<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel<\/a> and Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Federal Judge Blocks Missouri Medical Marijuana Licensing Residency Rule<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Federal Judge Blocks Missouri Medical Marijuana Licensing Residency Rule<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The case was filed by a marijuana investor from Pennsylvania who is a minority owner in a business awarded several Missouri licenses. By Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent A federal judge last week permanently blocked\u00a0Missouri from enforcing a requirement that medical marijuana licenses go to businesses owned by residents of theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50444,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50443\/revisions\/50444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}