On Thursday morning the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services began notifying hundreds of applicants for coveted medical marijuana dispensary licenses as to whether they would be permitted to sell cannabis inside highly secured retail facilities.

Department spokeswoman Lisa Cox told the News-Leader by text message that the full list of accepted and denied license applicants could be posted online as early as this afternoon.

A Springfield applicant, Desmond Morris, said his Wholesome Bud Company had not yet heard the status of its dispensary application.

“If it tracks like the others, we will know by 10 a.m.,” he said in a text message.

“We are very hopeful,” said Max Bonanno in an email to the News-Leader Wednesday night. According to health department data, Bonnano is tied to dispensary applications by Blue Arrow Holdings LLC. They were filed for locations in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions, along with Camden and Buchanan counties.

Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association, or MoCannTrade, was among those with early reactions to the news.

“It’s great to see DHSS continuing to implement Missouri’s medical marijuana program as expediently as possible,” he told the News-Leader in a text message. [Read more at Springfield News-Leader]