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BRANSON NEWS: Roughly six months after licensed medical marijuana dispensaries started opening in Springfield, one is coming to the eastern edge of downtown.Another location under the same branding will open just south of the Highway 76 strip in Branson, at the corner of Green Mountain and Wildwood drives.That’s according to Greenlight Dispensary CEO John Mueller, who spoke to the News-Leader from his office near Kansas City Monday morning.More:Better Business Bureau says ‘use caution’ with this Missouri medical marijuana card companyA culture of ‘one-on-one connection’Mueller said Greenlight’s tagline, “cannabis with culture,” is meant to express closeness with medical marijuana patients.”The patients, you know, just don’t believe that they should be treated like a criminal,” Mueller said. “I just don’t believe in (situations) where you’ve got to got through big glass walls and all kinds of other stuff to serve a normal patient. So I think it’s more of a one-on-one connection, and connecting that patient with the person behind the counter.”Mueller said the Springfield Greenlight Dispensary had its walk-through inspection with state medical cannabis regulators a couple of weeks ago. It could be open in two to three weeks, he said. A Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokesperson confirmed late last week that the “commencement” process was underway, though approval to operate had not yet been given. The Branson dispensary has not yet been approved either, state records show.The Springfield Greenlight Dispensary is located at 218 N. National Ave., across the road from the Walgreens pharmacy at the corner of St. Louis Street. The building was once used for an auto repair center and a cable-satellite supply shop, News-Leader archives show.More:Missouri starts revoking marijuana business permits at companies that didn’t meet operating deadlineState records show that originally, a different company had applied for a dispensary license covering that storefront. That company’s application was turned down in early 2020, when Missouri medical marijuana authorities handed out a limited number of licenses after hiring a controversial “blind scoring” company to process thousands of license applications. The shifting status of Grassroots On January 20, regulators granted a “change request” to allow Grassroots OpCo MO LLC to transfer its dispensary license from the 1300 block of North Stewart Avenue to the National Avenue space, a state health department spokesperson said late last week.Grassroots OpCo MO LLC also won dispensary licenses in Blue Springs, Independence, Branson and Joplin. As the News-Leader reported in September, Curaleaf, a Massachusetts-based company, bought Chicago-based Grassroots last summer. Curaleaf vice president of corporate communications Tracy Brady said in an email Monday, “we are currently pursuing strategic alternatives for those licenses … all transactions and transfers are dependent upon regulatory approval.” Brady did not respond to a question on whether publicly-traded Curaleaf had sold its interest in the Missouri LLCs to another group.Missouri cannabis regulations state that no more than five dispensaries may be licensed to the same owner. Greenlight Dispensary lists 16 Missouri dispensaries under its brand on its website, along with a few in Arkansas. The brand’s executive team has its roots in Nevada-based Acres Cannabis, according to the company website.Mueller, Greenlight CEO, said Monday that a “zero-dollar license agreement” approved by state cannabis authorities means that state-licensed dispensaries possessed by various ownership groups may use the Greenlight Dispensary brand. The agreement “allows them to buy bulk (marijuana) flower and buy collectively to get economies of scale,” along with using the common branding in the marketplace, Mueller said.In the Kansas City region, a 96,000-square-foot former Pepsi facility is now Greenlight’s licensed cultivation center, Mueller said, and it can supply the two new dispensaries and others.When the News-Leader asked state marijuana regulators for comment on Greenlight’s relationship to the five-dispensary limit laid out in state rules, a DHSS spokesperson noted in a Monday email, “Licensees are permitted to enter into branding agreements and often do. It is a mistake to assume that common branding indicates substantially common control, ownership, or management of the licensee.”Ownership groups that aren’t connected “might choose to enter into a branding agreement with a national brand, for a flat fee, that would confer the right to use a certain trade name and marketing design,” for example.DHSS said it “has investigated contracts and agreements of all types for all licensees, including branding agreements, and will continue to monitor connections between licensees in order to ensure the industry is in compliance.”What about parking at the Springfield Greenlight Dispensary?Mueller and a colleague, Greenlight director of operations Casey Efting, both acknowledged that Springfield cannabis patients might have questions about parking at the Springfield venue, which is located along a stretch of National Avenue close to Hammons Field, nightlife, a big grocery store — and multiple restaurants, car dealers and flea markets.But, Mueller said, there will be spaces available from a parking lot shared with a nearby car dealer.”And then of course you have the pickup window,” said Efting. “I think it’s going to be the biggest thing that sets this location apart … You don’t even have to get out of your car. You simply pull through. You put your order (online) in advance, pull through the drive-thru, and you’re on your way.”Isn’t there already a dispensary in downtown Springfield?Technically, no. An investor group linked to the Outland Complex on South Avenue applied for a dispensary license, but they were turned down by state authorities. In summer 2019, Swin Dispensaries, a company originally from Taney County, opened a store at 108 Park Central Square. However, it advertises “federally legal hemp” (i.e., CBD products) on its shop windows, rather than the THC-rich cannabis products that are only sold lawfully to patients with state medical marijuana ID cards.For Branson, a ‘cannabis museum’ to educate patientsThe Branson location of Greenlight Dispensary — which Mueller said has been well-received by the community — is intended to be something new in Missouri.Efting, the operations director, said, “If we didn’t bring something unique, I don’t think we’d be doing them justice, the city (of Branson) or the patients.”Mueller said the Branson Greenlight will be the physically largest dispensary facility in Missouri. The location at 201 S. Wildwood Drive will include a “full cannabis museum” describing America’s relationship with the much-ballyhooed plant, from early hemp ventures in the 1800s through the Controlled Substance Act of 1970.The goal is to provide an experience focused on patient education. Mueller said Greenlight’s Branson museum will be frank about what many cannabis activists and industry types see as the role of racism “that was built into marijuana prohibition.””To be honest, it’s really shocking to see how all that transpired,” Mueller told the News-Leader. He said he believes it will provide a lot of context on how cannabis came to be regulated in the first place.Greenlight maintains a variety of accounts on social media and a company website at greenlightdispensary.com.Reach News-Leader reporter Gregory Holman by emailing gholman@gannett.com. Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism.
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