New York-based Cannabis Public Policy Consulting LLC was awarded a contract this month to study Missouri's marijuana market for the next year. The group's $238,700 contract to conduct an economic-impact study will help the state determine "whether or when the state will be required to issue additional cannabis facility licenses and, if so, how many, where, and of what type," according to a March press release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Currently, department rules allows only a handful of licenses more than the minimum number required by the constitutional amendments that legalized medical and, subsequently, recreational marijuana for adults.
As a result, the department has issued nearly 400 licenses for cultivation, manufacturing facilities and dispensaries. The rules, for example, allow 27 dispensary licenses in each of the state's eight congressional districts, while the Constitution requires a minimum of 24. The state will also eventually have 144 microbusiness licenses, which are limited in size and scope and meant to benefit disadvantaged business owners.
In 2024, Missouri recorded $1.46 billion in total marijuana sales in the state's second year of adult-use marijuana, outperforming states with a longer history of marijuana legalization like Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.
Read more at News From the States