In 2018, Missouri made the move to legalize medical cannabis. Two years later, the plant was being sold statewide in its pharmaceutical form. Now, in the present day, sales revenue indicates that this landlocked state on the fringes of the Bible Belt is raking in an impressive amount of cash from its regulated medical cannabis program.

During the month of August, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) claimed to have seen the highest month of sales, at which point revenue topped $21.73 million. The month prior saw a record-breaking $21.03 million — a figure that has now been beaten. 

Even more impressive is the fact that Missourians have forked out more than $113.09 million for medical cannabis since last October. Consequently, veterans are reaping the rewards, with the Missouri Veterans Commission having received a colossal $6.8 million in cannabis taxes through the state’s regulated program.

Veterans are benefiting from Missouri’s medical cannabis program

On Thursday, September 16, Missouri’s medical cannabis industry celebrated a new milestone as state officials shifted in excess of $6.8 million from cannabis program coffers in the direction of military veterans care.

The Missouri Veterans Commission benefits from fees and taxes generated by medical cannabis in Missouri; minus operating expenses. Based on Missouri’s medical cannabis amendment to the state constitution, all legally sold cannabis products are taxed at four percent. Health care and various other services are provided to military veterans via the program’s taxation.

In September 2020, the MVC bagged its first fund transfer from the medical cannabis program — a total of $2.13 million. Currently, more than 140 dispensary facilities are scattered around Missouri, where recreational cannabis use remains illegal.

Patient enrollment for Missouri’s medical cannabis program is growing 

Since a medical cannabis system was authorized by voters in 2018 – Amendment 2 passed with 65 percent of votes on November 6, 2018 – approximately 140,000 Missouri patients have managed to gain approval for medical cannabis cards.

Based on reports by the MDHSS, more than 177,000 Missourians have applied for a medical cannabis license since June 2019. State records also indicate that legal dispensaries have carried out sales transactions of cannabis flower and other cannabis products surpassing $113 million.

“Patients are being served by more than 140 dispensary facilities in Missouri now, and we are very pleased to see their sales revenue where it is,” said the director for the medical cannabis division in the Department of Health and Senior Services, Lyndall Fraker, in an official news release. “Ultimately, this is how we are able to provide much-needed funding for the veteran’s commission.”