A Nevada company that oversaw marijuana business licenses there will score applicants for Missouri’s medical marijuana industry.
Missouri could pay as much as $582,061 to Wise Health Solutions of Carson City, Nevada, to evaluate applications from hundreds of Missouri groups hoping to win a state license to produce and sell marijuana or marijuana-infused products.
The cost depends in part on the number of applications the state receives. Missouri has raked in at least $4.2 million from prepaid fees for at least 592 applications, but the total number of applications to produce or sell marijuana won’t be known until after Monday’s deadline to apply. Applicants started formally filing their paperwork this month; applications are due by 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Not all applicants will win a license. Missouri is required by law to approve at least 10 testing facilities, 60 commercial growers, 86 facilities that make marijuana-infused products and 192 dispensaries — 24 dispensaries for each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts.
Wise Health will not be allowed to see the names of the businesses it is scoring, theoretically removing bias from the licensing process.
The state selected Wise Health Solutions over six other bidders for the one-year contract. The company is a collaboration between the Oaksterdam University of Oakland, California, which offers training for businesses entering the marijuana industry, and Veracious Investigative and Compliance Solutions, a regulatory compliance company.
An executive with Wise Health, Chad Westom, helped establish Nevada’s regulations on its legal marijuana industry from 2013 to 2017 and oversaw licensing of all the state’s marijuana businesses. He previously managed investigations of Nevada’s health facilities.
Wise Health said it is prepared to score at least 2,000 applications. Missouri will pay the group a set price for each type of application it reviews: $1,172 for each testing facility application; $943 for each cultivation facility application; $948 for each application to make marijuana-infused products; and $940 for each dispensary application.
The company also will be paid $22,950 to meet with state officials in Jefferson City before beginning the scoring process, as well as $215 an hour for consulting and testimony services at future meetings with state officials.
Two Missouri companies had bid for the contract: RT Facility Management of Bridgeton, and ARW Equity Advisors of Columbia.
The four other applicants were Extra Step Assurance of Bellefontaine, Ohio; Foundations Business Solutions of Overland Park, Kan.; Gonnell Law of Denver; and Nimdzi Insights of Seattle.
The state is asking Wise Health to complete scoring for lab testing facilities by Sept. 15, for cultivation facilities by Oct. 30 and for marijuana products processing and dispensaries by Nov. 30.
Sales of marijuana and marijuana-infused products are supposed to start early next year.
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