Missouri Residents Can Soon Fill Out Applications To Grow Marijuana At Home

Missouri regulators have released sample applications for adults who want to be able to grow marijuana at home for personal use.

The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) posted the forms on Saturday to give people time to gather the necessary information needed to fill them out before regulators start formally accepting and reviewing applications early next month.

Many states that have legalized cannabis for medical or recreational purposes allow some form of home cultivation. But under Missouri’s voter-approved marijuana law, which took effect last month, there’s a unique caveat requiring adults 21 and older to apply for a approval to lawfully cultivate their own plants.

The approvals will allow people to grow up to six mature and six immature plants, as well as six clones. A household where more than one adults lives can only have up to 12 flowering plants at one time.

DHSS’s Division of Cannabis Regulation will begin accepting applications by February 6.

PERSONAL CULTIVATION: In one month, Missourians will be able to apply for personal cannabis cultivation. Once approved, this will allow those who are 21+ to grow plants for personal, non-commercial use.

We just made sample apps available at https://t.co/qcHBToWwp6! pic.twitter.com/gZmZPkdMQS

— Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (@HealthyLivingMo) January 6, 2023

The version of the form that is currently available is a “sample of the application requirements and does not demonstrate how the department will begin receiving applications and fees from individuals requesting authorization for consumer personal cultivation,” officials said. “Additional information regarding how the department will receive applications and fees from individuals requesting these authorizations will be made available on the department’s website prior to the February 6th deadline.”

Personal use approvals must be annually renewed, with an application fee set at $100.

The sample applications are being released about two months after regulators first released draft regulations for the adult-use market and opened a public comment period.

DHSS, which will have regulatory authority over the program and be responsible for issuing all cannabis licenses, started initial work to prepare the rules back in August after it was confirmed the legalization would be on the ballot.

The Division of Cannabis Regulation under DHSS started accepting applications from existing medical cannabis dispensaries that want to serve adult-use customers in early December. The expectation is that the first recreational licenses will be approved next month, around the time that regulators start accepting personal use license applications.

There were legislative attempts to enact marijuana legalization in Missouri last session, including a revised reform bill that Rep. Ron Hicks (R) introduced in September for a special session ahead of the election, but it did not advance.

The bill was filed just one day after the Missouri Supreme Court gave a final ruling on a legal challenge to the activist-led initiative that secured its placement on the ballot.

Hicks’s legislation had been slightly revised since it was introduced and advanced through committee during the regular session last year. One key change is the addition of an emergency clause that referenced the ballot initiative, making it so the legislation would take effect immediately upon passage.

Gov. Mike Parson (R) said, however, that he would not add marijuana legalization to the agenda for the special session focused on tax relief and agriculture issues.

Meanwhile, another Republican Missouri lawmaker said recently that he plans to file a revised psychedelics bill to provide therapeutic access to psilocybin for people with serious mental health conditions in the coming days.

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Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.