Missouri Auditor to Investigate Adult-Use and Medical Cannabis Industries

The Missouri Auditor is investigating the state’s adult-use and medical cannabis programs to make sure they are operating legally, KCTV reports. Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s office said the review will cover a five-year period from 2018 through June 30, 2023. 

Voters approved a constitutional amendment to legalize medical cannabis in November 2018 and another to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2022.  

“The medical and recreational marijuana programs created by these amendments are responsible for establishing a new industry in our state which has already generated more than $1 billion in sales. The rules and regulations promulgated for these programs govern hundreds of marijuana facilities all across Missouri that cultivate and sell cannabis products to hundreds of thousands of Missourians each year. Considering the enormous impact they have had on our state, it’s important that we conduct a thorough assessment of these programs to ensure they are operating in a manner that is efficient, accountable, and transparent.” — Fitzpatrick in a statement to KCTV 

Fitzpatrick noted that the cannabis legalization amendments “represent some of the most substantial changes” to the state’s constitution “in recent memory” and “now make up more than one-fifth of the language” in the state constitution. 

The audit comes as the state is preparing to license its first round of microbusiness licenses and following the recall of more than 63,000 products that were not tracked in the state’s seed-to-sale inventory system.