Dunklin County facility denied permit for medical marijuana testing

A medical marijuana testing facility that would have been located in Malden has been turned down for a license, according to the first list from the state regarding the status of medical marijuana permit applications.

The list was released late Thursday evening and named the 10 testing facilities that were approved.

Megatron Labs, LLC was denied, scoring only 1047.42 on the Department of Health and Senior Services ranking system. It was proposed for 3210 Federal Drive in Malden.

It was among seven facilities that were denied permits.

Permits were approved for: Botannis Labs Mo. Corp, Springfield, scoring 1769.08;

GCA, Inc., Herculaneum, scoring, 1761.72; EKG Life Science Solutions, St. Louis, scoring 1675.75; Farma Laboratories LLC, Platte City, scoring 1557.89; Inovatia AgriTesting Services, Fayette, scoring 1548.78; Green Orchard Labs, Chillicothe, scoring 1539.67; ClearWater Science LLC, Kingdom City, scoring 1529.81; ContiCorp LLC Galena, scoring 1469.35; Green Hills Labs, LLC, Moscow Mills, scoring 1440.32; and Cloud TEN, LLC, St. Louis, scoring 1436.10.

Denials are issued for several reasons, including failure to meet minimum qualification, the results of an analysis for substantial common control, the results of application scoring, or application withdrawal, according to DHSS.

“Because laboratory facilities will be required to work hand-in-hand with our other licensed facilities and they play an important role in the safety of this program, we opted to license ten of these facilities to ensure Missouri patients have access to the best medical marijuana products available,” said Lyndall Fraker, director of the DHSS Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation, in a press release.

Testing facilities will be responsible for verifying levels of THC in product for patients as well as screening it for any foreign matter or dangerous bacteria, the state reports.

More than 40 applications for medical marijuana business licenses were received for the seven-county area, according to information released by the state in September. It included 18 dispensaries, 12 cultivators, nine infused products manufacturers, one transporter and one testing lab in Butler, Carter, Dunklin, Reynolds, Ripley, Stoddard and Wayne counties.

DHSS is tasked with implementing new state laws, including: issuing registrations to qualified patients and their primary caregivers; and licensing and certification of medical marijuana cultivation facilities, dispensary facilities, marijuana-infused products manufacturing facilities and medical marijuana testing facilities.

The department had received 2,163 online applications by Aug. 21.

The application system received over 1,200 applications in the final three days, including over 800 applications in the final 24 hours. Thus far, DHSS has received over $13 million in application fees, according to the state.

A third-party blind scorer will review and score the Evaluation Criteria Scoring Questions for all facility applications, stripped of any identifying information, according to the state in September. DHSS will then license 60 cultivation facilities, 192 dispensaries, 86 medical marijuana-infused manufacturing facilities and 10 testing laboratory facilities. These will be broken down by congressional district.

Applications must be approved or denied for licensure by DHSS within 150 days of the application submission date.