JEFFERSON CITY — The state House on Tuesday voted to pry open a trove of secret state records that detail the ownership structures of Missouri’s medical marijuana companies.
Lawmakers approved the plan, as an amendment to an unrelated bill, on a bipartisan 128-6 vote. The House sent the underlying bill dealing with local governments back to the Senate for consideration.
The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, said the Department of Health and Senior Services rebuffed efforts by the House Special Committee on Government Oversight to obtain the ownership records.
He said that means lawmakers have no way of knowing whether business entities received more licenses than allowed under the 2018 constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana.
The constitutional amendment limits “entities under substantially common control” to five dispensary licenses, three cultivation licenses and three manufacturing licenses.
