JEFFERSON CITY — The state could take disciplinary action against businesses with liquor licenses if they are caught selling unregulated psychoactive cannabis products, Gov. Mike Parson announced at a news conference Thursday.
The governor issued an executive order that directs the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco to prohibit the sale of “unregulated psychoactive cannabis products” at establishments with liquor licenses.
The order also bars sale of food with “psychoactive cannabis compounds” from unapproved sources, directing state health officials to classify “unregulated psychoactive cannabis” as unapproved beginning Sept. 1.
Parson’s office said the order was in response to increasing availability of psychoactive cannabis products and emerging health concerns, especially with regard to Missouri youth.
It also follows debate in the Legislature earlier this year on hemp-derived cannabis products, which pitted the state’s convenience stores against the state’s highly regulated legal cannabis industry. Legislation to restrict sales failed to pass.
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While state-licensed cannabis dispensaries sell traditional cannabis products, a separate market in Missouri pushing hemp-derived “delta-8” cannabis products and other cannabis products has emerged in recent years following federal hemp legalization.
The hemp-derived delta-8 products currently for sale at Missouri gas stations are not regulated by the Department of Health and Senior Services. There are also no specialty taxes on the unregulated products or official age restrictions.
The order doesn’t apply to CBD products or cannabis sold at state-licensed dispensaries.
“This Executive Order effectively bans the sale of these potentially harmful products in Missouri until such time approved sources can be regulated by the FDA or State of Missouri through legislative action,” Parson said in a statement.
Lobbyists for the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, or MoCannTrade — which favored legislation to restrict hemp-derived cannabis sales earlier this year — were present for Parson’s announcement.
So was Eapen Thampy, a lobbyist for the Missouri Hemp Trade Association who distributed a press release at the news conference criticizing the state-regulated marijuana industry.
“We staunchly oppose the ongoing efforts of the Missouri Marijuana Monopoly to use the levers of government to smear our members and prosecute our burgeoning and lawful industry,” the press release said.
Parson, asked if he was lobbied on the issue, said, “no, nobody lobbied me on it.”
Mike Leara, state supervisor of the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, said his team is finalizing emergency rules to implement the executive order.
“In the meantime, we will be using the month of August to educate our licensed liquor retailers across the state about the governor’s order,” Leara said. “They have one month to voluntarily remove these products from their premises.”
Discipline for liquor licensees, Leara said, ranges from verbal and written warnings to disciplinary action including license suspension, fines and revocation.