Judge rejects key challenge to Missouri’s medical marijuana system; Callicoats to appeal

The Springfield News Reader reports

A Sarcoxie family’s lawsuit aimed at rewriting the rules of Missouri’s medical marijuana program hit a roadblock in Cole County court Monday.

In a 37-page order, Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce said the existing rules are just fine.

Paul, Wendy and Jonathan Callicoat sued the state last year after it rejected their application for a license to grow medical marijuana for sale.

They had planned to turn a nursery growing peonies and irises in their town of 1,330 in Jasper County into their cannabis cultivation operation, but their bid did not rank high enough to receive one of 60 licenses available.

In response, they argued that the state’s 60-license limit was unconstitutional.

But Joyce wrote in her decision that the constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana in 2018 explicitly gives the state Department of Health and Senior Services the power to impose caps as it did.

“The department’s regulations fall squarely within its constitutional delegation of authority,” she wrote.

She also rejected the Callicoats’ argument that limiting the number of licenses violated their rights under the 2014 “Right to Farm” amendment, noting that the Missouri Supreme Court “explicitly rejected the argument that the Right to Farm was applicable to the cultivation of marijuana” in a separate case in 2017.

Read more at  https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/22/missouri-medical-marijuana-judge-rejects-challenge-system-license-caps/4002079001/

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