More than 1,600 applications filed for marijuana microbusiness lottery in Missouri

(KMOV) — As the cannabis industry continues to develop, businesses are looking forward to smaller, boutique operations entering the market in Missouri.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 1,601 people applied for microbusiness licenses before Thursday’s deadline.

The state will award just six permits per congressional district per year. Of those, two will be dispensaries and four will be wholesale businesses, which will be limited to 250 plants.

Beau Bradley, who runs a supply shop for small grow operations called GrowActive Solutions, was glad to see the addition of microbusinesses to the industry. He said he thought it would encourage more local entrepreneurs in the long run.

“Having those micro-licenses will let local people really show what they’re capable of in this market and give them a chance to show themselves,” Bradley said.

The microbusiness licenses were put into place to allow entrepreneurs to enter the market who may not have had the capital to set up a full-scale dispensary.

Tom Bommarito, the owner of Greenlight Dispensaries, said it would encourage boutique growers and sellers similar to craft breweries.

“It’s going to allow some of the people who couldn’t afford to get into the bigger, larger group that we’re in,” he said. “It’ll be a closed group where they’ll have their own growers, their own manufacturers, their own dispensaries. They’ll have their own group that trades with each other.”

According to the DHSS website, the state will award the permits sometime in October.

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