Missouri regulators propose rules to set up marijuana research facilities

Missouri health authorities are poised to set up a new category of marijuana business licenses that would authorize scientific research and education.

Cannabis research centers would accompany existing dispensaries, cultivation centers, manufacturers and testing centers in what has become a Missouri industry with over $5.1 billion in cumulative sales since legal marijuana came on the market in late 2020, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Marijuana regulators at DHSS announced today they’ve filed a draft of proposed rules with the Missouri secretary of state’s office. The draft rules would establish a framework for setting up marijuana research facilities and scientific studies, according to a copy of the most recent draft of the regulations obtained by Springfield Business Journal from DHSS. The proposed regulations are set to be published by the secretary of state’s office in the May 1 edition of the official Missouri Register, according to a news release, in time for a formal public feedback period May 1-31.

The most recent version of the draft rules by the DHSS’ Division of Cannabis Regulation cites Missouri’s voter-approved 2022 constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana. That amendment includes state authority to issue licenses for cannabis research or education, the rules say.

An SBJ review of the draft rules shows that they aim to facilitate compliance with Missouri law and promote safe and ethical research. The rules would set up licensing, application and operational standards for conducting research or education involving marijuana. The renewable licenses would be valid for three years under the proposal, which includes procedures for passing a commencement inspection.

Proposals for any scientific study of marijuana in Missouri would require review and approval by DHSS officials before they could begin, the draft rules say.

Research licensees would not be allowed to sell or transfer marijuana product to a cultivation facility, manufacturing facility or dispensary facility, according to the draft rules.

But they would be allowed to sell or donate marijuana products to another research licensee, as well as sell or donate plant seeds and clones produced within the scope of a study to a state-licensed cultivation facility.

A research facility could have up to 30,000 square feet of “flowering plant canopy space” in which to grow marijuana for science, in any combination of indoor, outdoor and greenhouse space, the draft rules state.

The draft rules state that a Missouri licensed marijuana research facility could share space with a cultivation, manufacturing, testing or dispensary facility.

All of those categories of regulated licensees were set up by Article 14 of the Missouri Constitution. That part of the Show-Me State’s basic law legalized medical and recreational marijuana after state voters approved constitutional changes in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

The research rules as proposed also cover topics such as human and animal subjects used in cannabis-related studies, including an independent committee proposed to oversee research using animals.

Human subjects in Missouri marijuana studies would be required to be over the age of 21, according to the draft regulations, or be under 21 if the underage subject has a lawful medical marijuana patient ID card. Researchers would be allowed to deliver up to 6 ounces of dried, unprocessed marijuana, or its equivalent, to each human research subject per month.

A research licensee could not sell “final marijuana product” to consumers, the proposed rules say, but they could administer marijuana products to human subjects to perform scientific research.

Other aspects of the rules include application procedures for a research facility license. For example, a university seeking to conduct cannabis research could set up an “affiliated entity” to apply for a research license, according to the rules.

DHSS officials said in today’s news release that they expect to file the final version of rules for the state’s formal rulemaking process this summer.

According to the DHSS website and department spokesperson Lisa Cox, an informal draft of the rules was posted online last year. That was for “informal feedback (outside of the official rulemaking process),” Cox said in a text message to SBJ. She said DHSS takes in feedback and may make additional revisions to the proposed marijuana research rules before they’re posted again in May at the start of the formal state rulemaking process.

Referencing the informal feedback, Cox said, “We started doing this to be more efficient and get feedback from the public before formal government processes are involved.”