Marijuana dispensaries around Kansas City opened their doors to a sudden rush of customers on Friday, the first day that legal weed became available to purchase in Missouri.
“It’s just been crazy,” said Bianca Sullivan, CEO of Fresh Green Dispensary in Brookside. “Everybody thought that maybe they’d roll out over the weekend.”
The Missouri State Department of Health and Senior Services announced Thursday they would start approving conversion requests for medical marijuana dispensaries, which many businesses applied for in December.
That was a few days ahead of schedule, and caught both owners and customers by surprise — the state previously said Monday, Feb. 6 would be the start of legal weed sales to non-medical clients.
Despite the late notice, Sullivan said she had customers lining up at 8 a.m.
“Everything has gone pretty smoothly so far,” she said. “We’ve been definitely busy with recreational patients but not overwhelmed or anything like that.”
Medical marijuana has been allowed in Missouri since the passage of a ballot measure in 2018, but voters went a step further this November by approving a constitutional amendment legalizing the drug for anyone 21 or older to purchase and consume.
At Good Day Farm dispensary in Kansas City, Lacee Stanley from Kansas City said her father had been using medical marijuana for a while. She showed up to buy her first batch of recreational marijuana shortly after their doors opened.
“I really like to see what it’s like for him,” she said. “But I also have anxiety, depression myself so it’s nice to see what it is without the pressure of having to apply for things, go through a lot of things, and kind of just for fun.”
Stanley said her friends who work at different dispensaries tipped her off to the sudden availability.
“It feels so much less stressful,” she says. “It feels less illegal, it feels less pressure that we’re doing something bad with the stuff, so there’s such a less negative connotation with it.
Jane Justus, a marketing specialist for Good Day Farm, said they’ve been getting ready for this day for the last few months, but were still caught a little off guard. The company has almost 20 locations around Missouri and more in Mississippi and Arkansas.
“We’re flying by the seat of our pants,” she said.
Good Day Farm made their first two sales of recreational marijuana shortly after their doors opened at 9 a.m. Justus says was excited for a new kind of customer to experience buying legal cannabis.
“This isn’t what they bought behind the bleacher when they were 16,” Justus said. This is really important, really special, tested, great product that can help people live a better life.”
Where can you buy recreational marijuana in the Kansas City area?
As of Feb. 3, the following Kansas City area businesses are open and have been approved for comprehensive marijuana licenses:
- BesaMe Wellness: 5901 NW Barry Road (Northland)
- Elevate: 4716 NE Vivion Road (North Kansas City)
- Elevate: 5408 Prospect Avenue (Blue Hills)
- The Forest: 706 Westport Road (Westport)
- Fresh Green: 7130 Wornall Road (Waldo)
- Fresh Karma: 240 E. Linwood Boulevard (midtown)
- From the Earth: 6200 Troost Avenue (Brookside)
- From the Earth: 1222 McGee Street (downtown Kansas City)
- From the Earth: 2918 Southwest Boulevard (Westside)
- Good Day Farm: 10420 Blue Ridge Boulevard (south Kansas City)
- Greenlight Dispensary: 3721 S. Noland Road (Independence)
- Homestate Dispensary: 509 E 18th Street (downtown)
- Nature Med: 2631 B NE Vivion Road (North Kansas City)
- Proper Cannabis: 1421 Wabash Avenue (downtown)
- Sunrise Dispensary: 6510 NW Prairie View Road (Platte County)
- Terrabis: 7025 Prospect Avenue (south Kansas City)
What to know before you go to a dispensary
Adults who plan to buy marijuana from a legal dispensary must present a valid government-issued ID to do so. Some dispensaries will accept debit card payments, while others take cash only — businesses can’t accept credit cards because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.
Customers who buy recreational marijuana will have to pay a 6% state tax. Several Kansas City-area municipalities are also considering their own local sales tax on recreational marijuana. During the April 4 primary election, voters in Kansas City, Independence, North Kansas City, Blue Springs and Jackson County will be asked whether to approve a 3% sales tax.
Should those ballot questions pass, customers who live in the Jackson County area of Kansas City could see up to 12% in sales taxes on their marijuana receipts.
Kansas City officials have said revenue from that sales tax would support homelessness programs, violence prevention and efforts to combat illegal dumping. The city estimates that the tax will generate $3 million annually for the first few years, and then $10 million per year after the fifth year.
Amendment 3 did impose possession limits: Non-medicinal users are limited to 3 ounces of marijuana or less, while users with medical cards can possess up to 6 ounces.
Spokeswoman Lisa Cox of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which regulates marijuana, said personal cultivation application forms have been available for the last month for people who want to grow a limited amount of their own cannabis. The state will also begin accepting applications for those licenses, which cost $100, starting Feb. 3.
Driving under the influence is not permitted under Missouri law, along with use of marijuana in public spaces, in the workplace or on school grounds. Missouri also bars selling marijuana outside the regulated system or taking marijuana into another state.
Among the places prohibiting marijuana are the four campuses of the University of Missouri System. The university cited two federal laws — the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act and the Drug-Free Workplace Act — on Wednesday in announcing a continued prohibition of marijuana on campuses and at university-sponsored events. Student violators could face discipline up to expulsion.
Under the new constitutional amendment, Missouri will automatically expunge the criminal records for most people on probation or parole for a misdemeanor marijuana offense, a process expected to be completed by mid-2023. People who are incarcerated, meanwhile, must petition to have their sentence vacated.
Missouri was the first state in the nation to pass an expungement measure for nonviolent offenses on a statewide ballot.
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