Trenton R-Times_10-06-2020

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TRENTON REPUBLICAN-TIMES, TRENTON, MO.

ACROSS MISSOURI

Missouri Town Expects To Thrive From Medical Marijuana

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CARROLLTON, Mo. (AP) — An armed guard and a fence trimmed with barbed wire are the only signs of what lies within the plain metal building behind the police department. Driving around, you’re more likely to notice the quaint town square or the 36-acre community park than this windowless, beige building set within a quiet industrial park. But this facility, marked with not a single sign outside, is at the forefront of the state’s newest industry. And folks all around Carrollton, home to about 3,600 people, are banking on a big economic boost from an unlikely source. Inside this building, workers carefully tend to a green sea of pot plants under a canopy of blinding lights. The smell is unmistakable. C4, short for Carroll County Cannabis Co., expects its first harvest of medical marijuana this week, putting legal retail pot sales ever closer to patients for the first time in Missouri history. The Kansas City Star reports that founder Ty Klein is a Carrollton native and decided to move back home, bringing the marijuana business with him. Missouri approved cultivation facilities and dispensaries across the state, in metro areas and small communities alike. But Klein believes Carrollton is poised to become a marijuana mecca. His company won three coveted licenses to grow marijuana across two buildings and another license to manufacture marijuana-infused products like gummies and brownies. And a separate cultivation and manufacturing

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facility is set to open nearby. “Per capita, Carrollton is going to be the cannabis capital of Missouri,â€? Klein said. “It truly is.â€? Klein, who plans to mainly supply dispensaries in the Kansas City area, met with several communities before landing on Carrollton. The city and county supported the venture by investing in infrastructure and providing tax incentives. “I doubt there’s another weed shop next door to a police station anywhere in the country,â€? he said. “And they’re excited about it. They really steered me down here.â€? Of course, there were lots of questions and concerns early on. “Number one, the word marijuana to a bunch of us old conservative rednecks. ‌ You say, ‘Really, we’re going to grow marijuana in Carrollton?’â€? said Stan Falke, Carroll County’s presiding commissioner. But the more people learned about the industry, the more comfortable they grew, he said. Knowing that C4 grows everything indoors in a secure, nondescript facility has eased concerns. “They’ve done a great job. They’re not hiding, but they’re not stuffing it down the throats of people that might be opposed,â€? Falke said. Not everyone here is enthusiastic about pot. Around town, some people didn’t want to be interviewed about the budding industry, knowing it remains a divisive issue. “There will always be rough edges,â€? Falke said. “We have a conservative base. You’re not going to change their minds.â€? Carrollton is the seat of Carroll County, where President Donald Trump won nearly 80% of the vote in 2016 — statewide, Trump carried 56.4% support. But many people here acknowledge the rare opportunity provided by the state’s burgeoning marijuana business. Rural communities across the Midwest have suffered through decades of population decline and job losses, as people increasingly flocked to cities. Like other small towns, Carrollton has lost major employers and retailers over the years. If C4 grows as anticipated, it could become one of the area’s largest employers. “We just haven’t had a lot of opportunity for growth of this type,â€? Falke said. “We’ve taken some hits, so the opportunity now to overcome those with new industry, we’re just really excited.â€? C4’s arrival is the first time a major employer has moved

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to the area in at least a decade, said Anna Barlow, director of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce. Much of the local economy revolves around farming, and the local hospital and schools are the area’s largest employers. “These are really good paying jobs with benefits. That’s more difficult to find in our community,� Barlow said. “The boost to our economy is definitely something we haven’t seen for a long time.� Patients have been waiting for the build-out of the state’s pot industry since voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2018 sanctioning medical marijuana. Those who qualify for the program can currently grow plants at home, but the industry is expected to boom in the coming months as commercial growers and retail dispensaries begin to market products en masse. The state offered licenses to only a fraction of those who applied to grow, manufacture and sell marijuana products. Since then, the program has been under fire as politicians and spurned applicants accuse state officials of conflicts of interests and irregularities in the scoring process. Hundreds of administrative appeals and lawsuits have piled up. And earlier this month, Missouri House Democrats accused the state agency responsible for regulating the medical marijuana program of obstructing an oversight committee’s examination of the work. But for all the controversy, the industry continues to mature across the state. Just outside of St. Louis, Earth City-based BeLeaf Medical, the state’s first approved cultivator, is reportedly nearing its first harvest. And Carrolton’s C4 company hopes to start cutting its plants in early October. The state licensed several Kansas City-area cultivators, along with 40 dispensaries. Some of those retail stores plan to open their doors as early as October, but industry experts say supply and variety are likely to be limited as the earliest growers bring in their first harvests. Across the state, only five cultivation facilities and six dispensaries have received final approval to open, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. After it’s harvested, the product must go through statemandated testing. Then it must be dried, and in some cases, processed into other products like gummies or vape cartridges. Klein hopes to get his product into some Kansas City area dispensaries by the end of October. But even then, the industry will take months to develop as

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most dispensaries have yet to open. “There’s no product. So why would they open?� said Kansas City attorney Christopher McHugh. “It’s kind of a chicken-or-egg thing.� His company won three separate licenses for marijuana cultivation, manufacturing and a dispensary in St. Joseph. Even as patients grow anxious over waiting, he said the market is a ways off from maturity. His firm plans to start growing pot sometime in December. He said some dispensaries have waited to open, worried over the possibility of high prices or low quality with the first rounds of harvests. “The market has not developed to the point where you would be able to meet the expectations of the typical patient, which would be like walking into the typical supermarket where you have lots of variety and product,� he said. “The machine just isn’t running at full power yet.� The Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association predicted the industry would create 4,000 jobs and pump half a billion dollars into Missouri’s economy each year. “Our members alone are out there as we speak spending tens of millions of dollars locally in communities,� said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the trade association. That investment has come as many go jobless because of the coronavirus pandemic. But Cardetti said it’s been particularly helpful in rural communities where cultivators and manufacturers are building new facilities or upgrading abandoned ones. “The loss of manufacturing jobs over the last two decades has hit rural Missouri particularly hard,� he said. “And that’s one of the reasons you’ve seen some of these rural communities really embrace this industry as a new potential for economic activity.� Some of Missouri’s more conservative and rural areas have opposed the industry. But many communities cheered on local applicants, appreciating the economic potential. Places like Chillicothe and Kirksville relaxed zoning standards to encourage marijuana businesses. And in some communities, mayors and police chiefs wrote letters of support as applicants competed for licenses. Cardetti noted that 2018’s Amendment 2 won more than 65% percent of the vote, winning in nearly all of Missouri’s counties. “That didn’t just happen with urban and suburban voters,� said Cardetti, who helped lead the drive for the amendment. “In Carroll County, medical marijuana passed by almost double digits.� Some 70 miles east of

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