Following in the city’s footsteps, St. Louis County is weighing a bill to ban the sale of “intoxicating cannabinoids” anywhere outside of licensed marijuana dispensaries authorized to do business in Missouri. The bill was initially on the final passage agenda for today’s County Council meeting, but its sponsor, Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, says she’s hitting pause to continue to take in concerns regarding the issue.
Some critics say the bill would cause businesses that aren’t licensed dispensaries to close their doors. David Platnik, president of CBD Kratom, which has 57 stores in five different states, said at a public forum earlier this month that the bill would cause numerous stores to shut their doors—and the company to move its operations out of the county.
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“If the ban passes, we will have to close all six locations in the county and relocate our headquarters and warehouse out of the county,” Platnik said. “This would result in approximately 85 individuals in the county losing their jobs.”
Lee Riley, who works in the hemp beverage industry, said at the hearing that the bill will put Missouri behind the curve.
“This is a fast-growing sector. Nationally, the hemp beverage market is projected to reach multi-billions by 2030,” Riley stated. “We are not asking for a free pass. We are asking to be part of a conversation, and it’s a conversation we want to have. Responsible producers and operators want in on this conversation, and we want the clear standards to be made for those regulations. I believe that Missouri can be a national leader in doing this the right way.”
Clancy introduced her bill in January. The bill was moved to final passage in March, but has been held ever since. On July 15, Councilwoman Gretchen Bangert moved to hold the bill again in Clancy’s absence (she was out of town for this particular meeting). During the dedicated public comment section of the meeting, the bill received some serious pushback.
Alongside small businesses solely focused on selling these products, restaurants and convenience stores sometimes offer them or use them in menu items. Under Clancy’s bill, that would no longer be allowed.
Clancy says people concerned about the products are exploring options regarding hemp beverages, saying the Missouri legislature hopes to codify an exception in state law that would allow these drinks for bar and restaurant use.
“What I hope to accomplish is to keep consumers, particularly children, safe from products that we know contain potentially harmful ingredients that are not clearly being advertised and regulated,” Clancy says. “My bill calls for those products to be banned from being sold in convenience stores and places that aren’t licensed to sell those products.”
“Intoxicating cannabinoids” includes any intoxicating hemp product, however derived or created, that has an intoxicating effect when consumed or otherwise ingested. That includes hemp-derived THC beverages, including those with Delta 8, as well as other products such as gummies. As the Missouri Independent has reported, those products have been unregulated in Missouri since the federal government legalized hemp in 2018.
Ward 3 Alderman Shane Cohn has introduced a bill similar to Clancy’s at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. He says the bill has drawn significantly more attention than when he introduced a very similar bill a year prior. Cohn tells SLM that while the board is on summer recess, he’s having meetings with both opponents and supporters. “I haven’t even requested a hearing. It’s only been introduced/first read,” he texted.
Both the city and county bills follow then-Gov. Mike Parson’s effort (later abandoned) to ban the sale of such products by executive order last summer. That was followed by a bill in the state legislature, which was met with a seven-hour bipartisan filibuster, with critics saying it was the marijuana industry’s attempt to eliminate competition.
Last week, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled against stacked taxes on dispensaries, finding that only local governments can impose an additional 3 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana sales within incorporated cities—barring counties from imposing a traditional sales tax on top of the marijuana tax.
Local and state tax revenue on cannabis in Missouri totaled $241 million in 2024.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story referred incorrectly to what happened at the County Council meeting on July 15. The pushback from the public came in the public forum; there was not an official public hearing. Also, Councilwoman Gretchen Bangert moved to hold the bill. We regret the error.
