Less than a year after opening its first dispensary in October 2020, Missouri has opened 142 medical cannabis retailers, according to a Fox 2 report.
Lyndall Fraker, head of the medical cannabis office in the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, believes the remaining 50 stores will open by the end of the year for a total of 192.
“The amendment that was voted on said that we should open the minimum number at least, which was 192 dispensaries. As of today, we have 142 open. We’ve done the math and based on the number of quantities that each patient can purchase each month, how much product it would take to serve the patient base and we think we are going to be good for five or six years.” — Fraker, via Fox 2
The state saw significant windfall from medical cannabis sales this year. In August 2021 alone, Missouri dispensed $110 million worth of medical cannabis. The industry is subject to a 4% sales tax by the state and all revenue left over after covering the expenses of the program goes toward helping veterans in the state, Fox 2 reports.
“We have transferred $2.1 million over to the veterans,” Fraker said. “We did that last year and we are getting ready to make a transfer, much bigger than that one.”
Meanwhile, the state has opened just 29 of its planned 63 medical cannabis production facilities. Fraker said many sites waiting to open will be opened in the next three months and contributed the delays to the pandemic. He also said that nearly half (40) of the state’s 86 processors are open for business.
“There’s not any place in the state that’s not accessible within 50 minutes to a dispensary from anywhere in the state,” Fraker said in the report. “We have 348 facilities that we have licensed. Our first goal is to get all 348 of those operating.”
In total, there are 248 facilities serving Missouri‘s approximately 134,000 medical cannabis patients.
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