ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO – Dozens of people came out to UMSL tonight to try and get questions answered about becoming involved in Missouri`s budding medical marijuana industry.
The seminar was held at the J.C. Penney Conference Center in Normandy.
75 people came out for the workshop which was put on Canna Advisors.
The group`s founders, Jay and Diane Czarkowski opened one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado and have since helped medical cannabis clients in many states.
They say the competition for licenses in Missouri will be fierce and not everyone who applies will get one.
The seminar covered areas including financing, branding, and effectively filling out applications.
While some of those at the seminar have already paid thousands in non-refundable fees to apply for licenses, others came out to simply looking to gather more information.
We spoke with several people who came out for the workshop.
“There are a lot of questions out there still. There`s a lot of rules that haven`t been released yet so I`m real interested to find out what that`s going to be,” said Joe Ingrande, who has already put down the $6,000 non-refundable application fee for a dispensary.
“I just want to get some information about how the law is going to work, how they`re dividing up the dispensaries and the approval process,” add Tai Faulkner who is looking at opening one or two dispensaries in north county and/or north city.
Greg Huffaker with Canna Advisors explained, “Our goal is to help folks here in Missouri understand what it takes to get into the industry, what those steps are going to be like and some strategies for getting ahead of the competition.”
We`re told the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has already received more than 400 pre-filed application forms and fees totaling more than three million dollars.
We understand those fees are helping to get the program off the ground.
Businesses can officially apply for licenses in August. Licenses should be awarded by the end of this year.
Those who organized the seminar expect medical marijuana to start being available in Missouri by fall of next year.
Canna Advisors is hosting another seminar like this one on Wednesday in Kansas City.
