DANNY WICENTOWSKI
Brennan England is the founder of Cole's Private Lounge and the St. Louis Cannabis Club.
When it comes to Missouri’s medical marijuana market, everything is coming up green.
Bad weed pun? Maybe, but it accurately references the profits the industry is pulling in. Since the dispensaries opened for business in October 2020, the state’s cannabis industry has pulled in nearly $300 million, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. In March alone, the state had more than $30 million in retail sales, representing a 15 percent jump over February and setting a new monthly sales record.
There’s rapid job growth too. So far, more than 7,500 state agent ID cards — which are required to work in medical cannabis facilities — have been issued; in fact, the cannabis industry accounted for a full 10 percent of all new jobs in Missouri in 2021.
The industry expansion can be seen most clearly by the dispensaries popping up all over town. Some 188 of them have been approved for operation in Missouri, with more than 50, by our count, in the greater St. Louis area. That’s good news for the 180,000-plus card-carrying medical marijuana patients in the state, who are seeing increasingly high-quality products at lower prices, as the industry matures and competition heats up.
Soon, however, cannabis enthusiasts might be able to make their purchases without approval from a doctor. Legal Missouri 2022 submitted nearly 400,000 signatures to the Missouri legislature to place adult-use marijuana on the November ballot.
Given the success the industry has seen in the state so far, it’s fair to guess that recreational weed has got the votes. In fact, you might say that Missouri and the cannabis industry are shaping up to be best, ahem, buds (sorry, truly).
And so, we'd like to welcome you to RFT's 2022 Cannabis User's Guide. Click through to read reviews of strains, weed news you can use, and a comprehensive listing of every dispensary currently open in the greater St. Louis area.
-Into the Unknown: Researchers Are Just Beginning to Understand the Full Benefits of Cannabis
-Read Before Burning: What If You Try Cannabis and Don’t Like the Effects?
-'I Just Kept Crying and Crying': Woman Serving 15 Years for Weed Gets Clemency
-Our Complete Archive of Cannabis Product Reviews
-Where to Buy Weed: RFT's Comprehensive Directory of St. Louis-Area Dispensaries
Update 5/17/2022 at 3:48 p.m.: This story was updated to clarify that only one petition for legalizing marijuana made it to the state legislature in time to be considered for the November ballot: Legal Missouri 2022.
