Court orders Missouri to issue 13 marijuana licenses after scoring flaws exposed

By: Rebecca Rivas

Outlets: Missouri Independent

Published: March 18, 2026

Words: 1,183

Last Updated: 2 days, 20 hours ago

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A Missouri appeals court has delivered a sweeping rebuke of the state’s marijuana licensing process, ordering regulators to award Hippos LLC 13 facility licenses after finding the 2019 scoring was inconsistent and, in one case, performed by a grader whose qualifications were never established.

The unanimous ruling lands just weeks after a scathing state audit found the same flaws — erratic scoring, poor documentation and a process so opaque it cast doubt on …

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