On Election Day 2018, voters in Missouri approved Amendment 2, a medical cannabis legalization measure, with 65.5% support. The adoption of the measure enshrined medical cannabis into Missouri’s state constitution.
In October 2020, the first legal sales of medical cannabis in the state of Missouri occurred between a Missouri-licensed dispensary and qualified patients and caregivers.
“Missouri patients have always been our north star as we work to implement the state’s medical marijuana program,” said Dr. Randall Williams, Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services stated at the time in a Department news release. “We greatly appreciate how hard everyone has worked so that patients can begin accessing a safe and well-regulated program.”
Legal adult-use cannabis sales launched in Missouri in February 2023, and in less than 30 days Missouri’s then nearly 200 dispensaries made roughly $72 million in sales. Missouri’s medical cannabis sales added an addition $31 million to the total amount of legal sales in Missouri during the period.
Missouri’s legal cannabis industry has continued to grow over the last year. According to leading cannabis industry data company Headset, “The total sales for March 2024 reached $124.08 million, with over 4 million units sold.”
Per original reporting by Marijuana Moment, during the first year of legal adult-use sales Missouri “sold more than $1.4 billion worth of legal cannabis,” of which roughly $1.13 billion was from adult-use purchases and another $280 million was from medical cannabis transactions.
Below is a graph from Headset listing Missouri’s historical sales data alongside data from other legal states for contextual purposes:
