Today marks two years since the first legal marijuana sale in the state of Missouri.
The beginning of marijuana in Missouri was measured in weeks.
In the first two weeks of sales, Missouri dispensaries sold $345,890.00 worth of medical marijuana.
The following month, Missourians made $1.9 million in purchases at legal dispensaries around the state.
Last month, patients with medical marijuana certifications averaged $1.14 million in combined purchases per day.
The growth of the legal marijuana industry in Missouri has been rapid.
Through the first 12 months of marijuana sales, patients purchased just over $160 million in products from Missouri dispensaries.
One year after that, the state has just passed the $500 million mark for cumulative sales.
Official totals for the month of October won’t be released until early November, but on the two-year anniversary date of medical marijuana’s first sale, the state sits poised for further expansion.
The market opened with two dispensaries. One located on the eastern side of the state – roughly 20 minutes from the heart of St. Louis, N’Bliss in Manchester, and one just 15 miles from the western border of the state, Fresh Green in Lee’s Summit. Today, there are 193 dispensaries are approved to operate and serve Missouri patients.
N’Bliss opened its doors to patients for the first time on a crisp October morning, with lines of people outside the door waiting to make their first legal marijuana purchase. Inside, Larry Simpson stood patiently waiting to make history. Simpson had survived a hellacious battle with stomach cancer, it ravaged his body, prevented him from having an appetite, and wreaked havoc on his life, now he and his wife stood inside one of two dispensaries in the state, waiting to make the first legal marijuana purchase in Missouri.
On opening day at N’Bliss the room was stocked with five cultivars of medical marijuana flower. There were no medical edibles, extracts, tinctures, or any other manufactured product available.
The first flower available to patients sold at $59.99 per ⅛ or $349.99 per ounce.
Today, patients are overwhelmed with a diverse array of options.
At the same N’Bliss dispensary, two years later, sales prices are as low as $19.99 per ⅛ and several cultivars are offered for $24.99-$29.99 per ⅛ at standard pricing.
On the Western side of the state, at ReLeaf Resources in Grandview, customers can choose from over 60 cultivars. None of those options exceed $50.00 per ⅛ and the median price is $38.00 for 3.5 grams.
“ReLeaf Resources Dispensary opened our doors to the Kansas City market on Black Friday of 2020 with only three strains of flower from C4,” Josh Ordo, General Manager at ReLeaf told Greenway. “Fast forward to today and we currently offer over 700 products on our menu. We pride ourselves on having the most diverse menu in the city, it ensures our patients can always find the relief they’re looking for.”
While ReLeaf has one of the more robust product inventories in the state, the dispensary carries over 80 vaporizers and carts, roughly 80 different concentrates, and over 160 different options for edibles and ingestibles, ReLeaf is certainly not a misnomer.
Nearly every dispensary in the state is stocked with 40 or more cultivars and dozens of options for concentrates and edibles. The Shangri-La Superstore in Columbia currently houses more than 100 cultivars while MOJO Dispensary in Nixa currently has over 80 edibles in stock. The battle for shelf space between cannabis companies and brands in the state has led to prices hitting lows at a pace much quicker than in most medical marijuana states. While some cultivars are still found for $50 per ⅛, it’s just as common to see sub $200 pricing for many ounces, with some small buds, trim, shake, etc going for $100 or less per ounce.
Now, just weeks ahead of the four-year anniversary of the legalization of medical marijuana in Missouri, the state is poised to vote for adult use.
In November 2018, 65.5 percent of voters approved Amendment 2, which legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes in the state of Missouri.
Two days after medical marijuana legalization in Missouri officially turns 4, Missourians will be asked whether or not they support legalizing marijuana possession for adults age 21 and over.
While Amendment 3 has been met with opposition politically, from both sides of the aisle, polling suggests that the Amendment will pass. In three different polls this year, results showed over 60% approval for adult use in Missouri. While other polls have shown lower support numbers, only one Missouri poll has shown the opposition to Amendment 3 with a lead n polling. In every other poll approval numbers lead by double digits.
Absentee voting in Missouri has already begun. early voting begins next week on October 25, and Election Day is November 8.
You can find your local polling place by clicking here.
Tammy Puyear contributed to this story.
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