Missouri AG: 33 unlicensed dispensaries must stop sales

Following an investigation that began last year, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office announced last night it is ordering 33 retailers across the state to stop sales of intoxicating cannabis and marijuana products that are allegedly outside of Missouri’s constitutional framework for legal marijuana and are marketed in ways that violate the state’s merchandising practices law.

“These unlicensed dispensaries are peddling dangerous, deceptive and intoxicating cannabis and marijuana products. A storefront and a sales counter do not magically convert an illegal drug operation into a legitimate business,” Attorney General Hanaway said in a news release. “My office is prepared to use the full extent of our authority to hold bad actors accountable.”

The companies that Hanaway’s office sent cease and desist letters to include myriad firms in the Kansas City and St. Louis regions, according to a news release, and two companies in the Springfield metro.

Civil investigative demand letters posted to the attorney general’s website show that on Nov. 24, 2025, the attorney general’s office told Clever-based Puffers Choice LLC, along with Swin Dispensaries, based in Hollister with a location in Nixa, that it was investigating whether those companies were selling unauthorized products. Those include cannabis being sold without a license, as well as, for example, hemp products that can run afoul of the Missouri law if they include too much delta-9 THC.

Springfield Business Journal is seeking comment from Puffers Choice owner James Vertree and Swin Dispensaries owner Blake Swindall but did not hear back by deadline.

The attorney general’s office says that after lab testing, it confirmed “many of these businesses” who were sent cease and desist letters were selling products that contained lead, arsenic, mercury, ethanol, and other contaminants, solvents, pesticides or unknown byproducts. Officials characterized many of the items on sale as “adulterated products that contain foreign and unsafe substances that pose a risk of, or cause, substantial injury to consumers,” according to the release.

“Products were marketed as ‘cannabis’ or ‘marijuana’ despite being completely outside of Missouri’s Article 14 constitutional framework,” officials with the attorney general’s office wrote in the news release. “None of these products are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for any medical use.”

In addition to ending sales of these products, Hanaway is demanding that the 33 companies stop using what it calls deceptive packaging and labeling, including designs that target children.

The full list of companies that received the cease and desist letters, according to the attorney general’s office, comprises the following:

Springfield region:
• Puffer’s Choice in Clever
• Swin Dispensary in Nixa

St. Louis region:
• 30314 Smoke Shop in St. Louis
• AREA 51 STL in St. Louis
• CBD Kratom Tower Grove in St. Louis
• Conoco/Zamani Mart in St. Louis
• Coughing Cardinal in St. Louis
• Far Out in Maplewood
• Flare Smoke N Vape in Ballwin
• Furr Dispensary in St. Louis
• Gateway Dispensary in St. Louis
• Get Plugged Dispensary in St. Louis
• Good Times Smoke Shop in St. Louis
• Moonlight Smoke Shop in St. Louis
• Muddy Waters Smoke Shop in St. Louis
• Paradise Smoke Shop in St. Louis
• Pit Stop Smoke Shop in St. Louis
• The Smoke Station in St. Louis
• Titanium Vapor in St. Louis
• Vaporized STL in Maplewood

Kansas City region:
• Big Chiefs Kush Waldo in Kansas City
• Center Smoke Shop in Independence
• Smoke in Kansas City
• Gray Area Cannabis in Independence
• Herb Depot in Independence
• It’s A Dream in Kansas City
• KC Kush in Kansas City
• Main Smoke Shop KC in Kansas City
• Niceguy in Kansas City
• Prohibition Cannabis in Kansas City
• Sacred Leaf in Independence
• Super E Cig Smoke Shop in St. Joseph
• Vapor Maven in Cameron