Missouri is about to launch a campaign to introduce a ballot initiative for 2026 that will unify the hemp and marijuana industries, and create parity with the cannabis industry. The new licensing system as well as legislative mandates are intended to bring the current laws into line.
Eapen Thampy, the Missourians For a Single Market coordinator, said to MEDCAN24 that “it’s actually the same plant.” “It’s a single plant.”
He said that part of the solution is to ensure hemp is protected and regulated, while marijuana can be produced and sold on a free market.
Some in the marijuana space are not on board, though. One Missouri marijuana industry group argues that this proposal would amount to an “abrogation” of voter-approved legalization laws, while benefiting primarily the hemp markets.
Thampy said that the initiative is driven by two main motivations.
It’s a first step in addressing the notion that Missouri’s cannabis licensing system is “broken and corrupt,” he explained, citing opaque processes which have yielded some awards while leaving behind many others without transparency.
The initiative aims to equalize the market for marijuana with that of hemp. Thampy stated that the former had “gotten everything” they desired from an approved legalization measure. They also worked on legislation to undermine hemp businesses.
In 2022, voters approved a marijuana legalization bill that enshrined certain regulations into the Constitution of the state. This removed the ability for the Legislature to adjust. Coalition behind the upcoming initiative aims to eliminate much of this text and instead provide a constitutional mandate that lawmakers develop their own statutory regulations.
At a stakeholder meeting held last week, the organizers for this new campaign outlined the next steps. Once the measure is filed with the secretary of state’s office—which is expected within days—there will be a 50-day review process after which officials can certify the language and clear advocates for signature gathering.
Around 300,000 registered voters will be required to sign the petition. This is expected to begin in mid-October. To secure balloting, approximately 180,000 valid signatures are required. There are specific requirements from each state congressional district.
Missouri Ethics Committee reports that Missourians for Single Market has raised $6,000 for this effort as of mid-July.
Thampy stated during the meeting that “this process is an enormous logistical task”, even though the initiative is “pretty straightforward”.
Our draft language, if we’re successful, envisions licensing systems similar to those for tobacco and alcohol. He said that this means there is no restriction on the number of licenses and that the licensing process should be greatly simplified. He added that “we also grandfather existing businesses or have protections for them, to ensure they have the chance to take part in licensing without any additional hurdles.”
The idea is that in Missouri we regulate already pharmacies, tobacco, and alcohol. For adult-use products we also know how to age gate.
“This proposal is: Let’s regulate the commercial side of this in very similar ways, through the ways that we already handle alcohol and tobacco—and that goes for the entire spectrum of legal commerce, from your bars and your restaurants to your convenience stores, gas stations, head shops, grocery stores and other mass market retail establishments, your independent user venues and so forth.”
According to him, the number of licensed marijuana retailers in the state is limited, and this does not meet the demand of consumers. Some people have to travel up to an hour just to find a retailer.
Thampy also argued that “high prices and limited products are the result of the excessive regulation on the marijuana side.”
One of the provisions in the upcoming initiative is a policy which would allow people to grow cannabis on their property and sell it directly to adult consumers, or retailers via a regulated path that includes testing.
Thampy: “We are working to increase and protect adult’s ability to grow and process their own cannabis.
The initiative also includes provisions that allow for adults to self-certify themselves as marijuana medical patients. It will provide an expungement pathway for anyone convicted of possession, distribution or sale of cannabis prior to August 2027. And it will mandate retroactive relief on taxes for cannabis companies that were denied the ability to deduct federal tax under Internal Revenue Service Code 280E.
Pushing back against critics in the marijuana industry, campaign consultant Ryan Johnson said at the stakeholder meeting that “it’s not an understatement to say that the other side has really decided that they want to capture all market share and shift most of the products…to be exclusively sold by the current licensees as well as the current dispensary owners, and really capture and take your market share.”
He said that he could tell this was a plan to take over the hemp market and to put business owners out of business. “So this then really takes on the look and the feel of a Hail Mary effort by people in your shoes and your businesses to essentially save yourselves and then create a free and fair, unified, single market for your products—where you could then have the opportunity to thrive.”
The current system is “not really a monopoly right now—but it’s very close,” Johnson said. Technically, it’s an oligopoly. A few companies with the same products and services control most of the market. They create barriers that prevent others from competing. “They want to continue to grow that market, and to capture the market share for themselves exclusively to the detriment other people.”
These comments were in response to a proposed local law in St. Louis County which would restrict the sales of hemp intoxicants products only at medical marijuana dispensaries within that county. The bill was stopped at a meeting recently.
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Andrew Mullins told MEDCAN24, in June, that the upcoming initiative will “effectively repeal Missouri’s twice-approved cannabis legalization laws”, referring to adult and medical use reform measures.
He said that the licensed and regulated marijuana business in Missouri generated $241 in tax revenue for the state and local governments last year. It is widely regarded to be one of the largest in the country.
Mullins claimed that drastic changes to the state’s marijuana policy would “be a colossal failure, particularly since they are funded by bad actors selling illegal cannabis from overseas made in Missouri smoke shops and gas stations,” Mullins said. Mullins argued that “Missourians will not take away hundreds of millions from our local communities, veterans, and justice system in the hope that politicians would eventually replace this with another policy.” “The voters in the Show-Me-State state are too intelligent to fall for such a bait and switch.”
Missouri’s hemp industry is also under increased state pressure as the officials try to clamp down on companies that sell intoxicating cannabis-based products, such as THCA, outside the program for marijuana. State Attorney General sent cease-and-desist letters to over a dozen businesses that were not complying in June.
There are multiple ways that lawmakers have envisioned regulating the use of cannabis products. They also contemplated different approaches to limiting THC in these products.
In February, legislation allowing low-dose intoxicating hemp beverages to continue to be sold in grocery and liquor stores was reported favorably by committees in both the House and Senate but was not enacted into law.
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