By Dennis Minich
Medical marijuana outlets will soon be open in Missouri and five dispensaries have received approval in Cass County, including one in Harrisonville.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which oversees the licensing, posted results last week of application scores, noting those which received a grade worthy of licensing and those that did not.
Earning approval for a dispensary in Harrisonville was THF Partners, LLC. According to the application the address of the store will be 1408 N. 291 Highway, which is the location of the former Texaco station. The phone number listed on the application is answered with a recording stating the company’s name as Mid-America Capital. On THF Partners, LLC. Incorporation papers on the Secretary of State’s website, the agent listed is Krystal Williams. She does have a voice mail at Mid-America Capital, but did not return calls.
The address listed on the papers is located in Overland Park, Kansas.
THF Partners, LLC received four dispensing permits: one in Independence and two in Kansas City.
The other approved permits in the county were for Harvest Mo., LLC in Raymore, and three in Belton: Missouri Health and Wellness; JG Missouri, LLC; and Terrapin Investment Fund IV, LLC.
Several applications were turned down including six in Harrisonville: DIC Realty, 1700 W. Mechanic; Red Tractor Cultivation, 314 Westchester; SW Retail Holdings, 2021 Royal St.; SMO1 Inc., 2820 Rockhaven Road; HCKC, LLC, 1415 N. 291; and Local Leaf, Inc., 686 S. Commercial St.
The licensing system is already being challenged throughout the state with issues of inconsistent scoring being noted. Because of possible litigation, many rejected licensees wouldn’t comment on the record, but one spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We work with a lot of groups and there apparently have been cases of the same applications in different locations getting different scores. Logically, if you take an application and cut and paste the same information into another application, it should get the same score,” the rejected licensee said.
Each application required a $6,000 non-refundable application fee. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Senior Services, redacted applications without the applicant’s information were presented to a third-party for scoring. The spokesperson, Lisa Cox, the economic impact on the local area was one of the criteria.
The specific scoresheets have not yet been released so those rejected are unaware of how they scored, simply their total score.
Get more stories like this delivered weekly! Subscribe today!
