Wise Health Solutions Awarded Contract for Missouri Medical Marijuana Business Application Review

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Aug. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — PRESS RELEASE — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services recently awarded Wise Health Solutions LLC (WHS) a one-year contract to review applications for prospective medical cannabis businesses, in anticipation of Missouri’s burgeoning medical cannabis industry, expected to launch next year. Of the companies that bid for the contract, the State of Missouri determined that WHS was the lowest and best vendor.

Wise Health Solutions, a Missouri-based company, is a new joint venture between Oaksterdam University and Veracious Investigative & Compliance Solutions LLC, two long-standing organizations and practitioners in the cannabis, education and regulatory compliance fields. Chad Warren Westom of Veracious, who oversaw the development of Nevada’s medical cannabis regulations, is the project’s executive lead.

With expert practitioners from both sides of the regulatory field and a successful history of scoring applications in Nevada and Arkansas, Wise Health Solutions anticipates reviewing and scoring license applications to open cultivation and manufacturing facilities, testing labs and dispensaries. Once the Notice to Proceed is received by WHS, leadership will meet at the end of August in Jefferson City for a kick-off meeting with State Officials.

Wise Health Solutions’ approach to the training and monitoring of the grading professionals, and its commitment to real-time transparency, will be essential to the program’s success. A “blind” review process, combined with a question and information quarantine system, will ensure the consistency and integrity of the review process, and allow eligible applications to be scored solely on the merit of their content. The grading rubric is based on the State of Missouri’s own expectations, with adherence to strict grading rules and scoring standards.

Serving as the project’s executive lead, Westom has more than 20 years of experience working in Quality Assurance and regulatory compliance at prestigious companies and government agencies. His broad experience includes public health, environmental protection, and health care, having served both as a department director at a nationwide company as well as in the public sector.

As Bureau Chief with the State of Nevada, Westom built Nevada’s entire marijuana regulatory structure from 2013 through 2017 and oversaw the licensing and opening of all of Nevada’s cannabis establishments. He directed the activities of over 80 professional staff, managing budgets totaling $18 million annually. Previously, he served as the manager for Nevada’s Health Facility investigations, another highly regulated industry. With this expertise, he’s served repeatedly as a subject matter expert in court cases. His credentials include registrations as an Environmental Health Specialist.