Missouri launches new initiative to verify licensed cannabis dispensaries

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KQTV) -- The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ Division of Cannabis Regulation has implemented a new initiative designed to help cannabis patients and consumers identify licensed dispensaries and cannabis products regulated by DHSS. 

The initiative, called "Verified Dispensary: We’re on the List," offers resources to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions, including a state-issued decal linked to an interactive dispensary map and guidance on identifying regulated cannabis products.

Cannabis sold in Missouri’s regulated market must be grown, processed, tested and distributed entirely within the state.

Amy Moore, director of the Division of Cannabis Regulation, said the initiative is centered on health and safety.

"Over time, from the public, from consumers and patients, sometimes there was confusion about what businesses are regulated by the department, and therefore what businesses are offering safe, tested cannabis," Moore said. "We wanted to communicate better about that. We talked about how to do that, and those conversations led to launching this new initiative."

Dispensaries taking part in this initiative ensure to sell safe cannabis products for consumers and patients.

"If you're looking for a product that has been tested for things like heavy metals and pesticides and solvents and all kinds of things naturally end up in cannabis products, if you want products that's been tested, to ensure that anything in their best to our ability is safe for human consumption, then you're going to want to go to a licensed dispensary," Moore said.

Moore said there will be key bits of information when verifying cannabis products.

Products sold by dispensaries participating in the initiative will showcase key bits of information, which can easily be read by the consumer.

"You think about what you see on medicines or on food," Moore said. "We have a standard label that will include things like the THC profile and all of the ingredients of the product. Our packaging for our licensed dispensaries for all this product are designed in ways that are meant not to appeal to children."

Moore said she encourages everyone to look into or think about the benefits of accessing regulated products.

"There are a lot of benefits, short-term and long-term, to accessing a product that has been tested, that has been monitored from a seed or a tiny plant all the way to sale, and think about the long-term benefits, purchasing from the regulated market for the beneficiaries of this program," she said.

Jimi Poe is the owner of 816 Dispensary in Platte City and got the decal from the state in November.

Poe has the decal placed in the three locations around his business, and it is a symbol to let his customers know his dispensary is safe.

"There are so many of these ones that are just hemp, that are around here, that are even in their names, they are saying they are a dispensary," Poe said. "They're not, they're not an actual regulated facility within the state, and follow all the regulations we have to follow."

Poe said the decal will also help differentiate dispensaries from hemp stores.

"With everything kind of being passed right now within the federal government, and also with the state of Missouri," he said. "I think people are gonna realize, 'Hey, I've been going to a hemp shop this whole time and not to an actual verified licensed dispensary in Missouri.'"

Overall, Poe said the decal serves as a verification and a safe way for consumers to know what they are putting in their bodies.

"I really like that we have a verification. We also have the license hung up here so that when people come in, they can see the license hung up, they can see the verification, and then we have COAs that we can pull out and show people," he said. "These are all the testing, not just total THC, we're testing for all pesticides, the heavy metals and all that type of stuff. I think just being verfied I think it's definitely worth it compared to, you know, and I don't know what you're buying."

To find all verified dispensaries in Missouri vist the DHSS website.