The Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) has filed emergency rules that explicitly allow foster parents to grow and possess marijuana at their private residence.
Marijuana was legalized in Missouri in November, 2022 through the passage of Amendment 3, a citizens initiative. The law allows those 21 and older to possess up to three ounces of marijuana, while also allowing them to grow up to six flowering plants, six immature plants, and six plants under 14 inches. Marijuana is purchasable through state-licensed marijuana retail outlets, the first of which opened in February.
Despite marijuana being legalized, foster parents up until this point were prohibited from possessing or growing marijuana in a home where a foster child is housed. The new rules filed recently would change this by allowing foster parents to possess and grow the same legal limits as anyone else. However, smoking marijuana in the same room as a foster child would remain prohibited.
Specifically, the DSS is axing Rule 13 CSR 35-60.040, which states that a foster parents shall not use or possess marijuana or marijuana-infused products.
“A regulation that conflicts with the Missouri Constitution is invalid”, DSS says. The new emergency rules will stay in place until February 23, unless the rules are finalized.
The rule clarifies that foster parents must ensure that marijuana must be “inaccessible to the children,” and marijuana being grown must be “in an enclosed, locked facility”.
