JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Department of Health and Senior Services has released the Missouri Medical Marijuana Regulatory Program’s annual report to Gov. Parson.

Reported activities are based on the program year of December 6, 2018, through December 5, 2019.

During the first program year, DHSS approved 23,269 patient and caregiver applications and began the process of licensing the constitutional minimum number of regulated medical marijuana facilities.

Deadlines for the first program year included the following:

-Begin accepting pre-file facility license applications by January 5, 2019
-Make all application forms and instructions publicly available by June 4, 2019
-Begin accepting patient, caregiver, and patient cultivation applications by July 4, 2019
-Begin accepting facility applications by August 3, 2019.

DHSS, which is tasked with providing safe and secure access to medical marijuana for qualifying Missouri patients, successfully met each of these deadlines.

“As we have worked to implement this program, Missouri patients have always been our north star through every step of the way,” said Dr. Randall Williams, Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. “We want to ensure that we build a program that is safe, accessible and in line with our mission of protecting the health of Missourians.”

Read an electronic copy of the report HERE.