The majority of Missouri’s medical marijuana businesses recently have been granted extensions after failing to meet a one-year operating deadline, state authorities told the News-Leader this week.

That means roughly 260 out of 370 licensed marijuana companies won’t have to be open for business until as late as September, rather than one year from the time they were licensed as required under state regulations, authorities said. Marijuana program documents provided to the News-Leader in early January and early February show that roughly 20 more cannabis companies have also asked for deadline extensions.

The question of whether a company gets an extension carries high stakes because, under state rules authorized by the constitution, a marijuana venture’s “license or certification may be revoked” if a licensed facility “has not passed a commencement inspection within one (1) year.”

So far, 78 commercial licenses are completely approved to operate, state records showed on Tuesday. Another 62 companies are in “in progress” with their final inspections, and thus considered almost ready to operate, according to a representative for Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association.

The trade association said Monday that Missouri’s 102,000 medical marijuana patients can expect to see more marijuana businesses continue to open each week through “late winter” into the rest of the year. [Read more at Springfield News-Leader]