Select retailers can now sell cannabis products to those age 21 or older.
The Department of Health and Senior Services has begun providing dual licensure to several existing medical cannabis dispensaries to begin immediately engaging in adult-use sales.
“A robust, above-ground retail marijuana market is necessary in order to disrupt the unregulated marketplace and to assure that consumers have adequate access to lab-tested, high quality products at competitive prices,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said.
Missouri voters decided in November in favor of a ballot initiative (Amendment 3) legalizing the possession, cultivation, and licensed retail sale of cannabis for those ages 21 and older.
The law also provides for the automatic review and expungement of cannabis-related convictions, and it also permits adults to apply for home-cultivation licenses. As of Thursday, February 2, according to the Office of State Courts Administrator, 5,205 marijuana expungements have already taken place. The Department began accepting home-grow applications today. Approved applicants may cultivate up to six flowering marijuana plants, six nonflowering plants under 14 inches tall or more, and six non flowering plants under 14 inches tall in a single enclosed locked facility. All consumer personal cultivation must take place at a private residence.
Dan Viets, co-author of Amendment 3, Missouri NORML Coordinator and Chair of the Amendment 3 Advisory Board said: “Missouri NORML was especially concerned that the option for personal cultivation of cannabis be included in Article XIV. The option to grow for oneself is a fundamental right which has been part of legalization in the great majority of the 20 other states which have now taken the historic step of repealing the criminal prohibition of responsible adult marijuana use.”
Retail adult-use sales were anticipated to begin next week, but regulators expedited the timeline. An estimated 97 percent of Missouri’s 300+ medical dispensaries have applied to become comprehensive facilities, selling both adult and medical marijuana, according to DHSS.
Additional information is available from Missouri NORML.