OVERVIEW​

Want to learn how to open a dispensary in Missouri for the 2023 adult use marijuana program? This page is dedicated to giving you the most up to date information on how to open a dispensary in Missouri with success. Missouri legalized recreational marijuana with Amendment 3 for adults 21 and older and also expunges records of past arrests and convictions for nonviolent marijuana offenses, except for selling to minors or driving under the influence. According to Legal MO 2022, the organization behind the initiative, the initiative will create an adult use cannabis market. This includes but is not limited to the following:

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• Allows Missourians 21 years and older to possess, purchase, consume and cultivate marijuana.

• Allows Missourians with nonviolent marijuana-related offenses to automatically expunge their criminal records (Similar programs in other states typically require those seeking to vacate convictions to first petition the courts, adding time and expenses).

• Levies 6% state tax on retail sales of marijuana. Beyond covering administrative expenses and the costs to process automatic expungements, any remaining surplus will be split equally between veterans’ healthcare, drug addiction treatment, and Missouri’s underfunded public defender system.

• Allows local governments to assess local sales taxes of up to 3%. State officials project additional annual revenue of at least $40.8 million and additional local government revenues of at least $13.8 million.

• New business licenses: Seeks to broaden industry participation by small business owners and among disadvantaged populations, including those with limited capital, residents of high-poverty communities, service-disabled veterans, and those previously convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses.

• Lottery: All new license holders will be selected at random, by lottery.

• Local control: Allows local communities to opt-out of adult-use retail marijuana sales through a vote of the people..

• Sales-to-date: 

• New licenses: Adds a minimum of 144 new small businesses to the existing 382 licensed and certified cannabis businesses in the state.

• Statewide access: To ensure statewide access, 18 of these new businesses will be added in each of the state’s eight congressional districts over time. At least six of those new businesses in each district must operate as dispensaries.

• New category: The remainder will be designated as wholesale facilities, a new category that allows operators to both cultivate the plant and manufacture cannabis products such as edibles, vape cartridges, topicals, and concentrates.

• Eligibility: This new group of business license holders would have to meet at least one of the following requirements:

  • Have a net worth of less than $250,000 and income below 250% of the federal poverty level for at least 3 of the previous 10 years;

  • Have a valid service-connected disability card issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs;

  • Have been arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of a non-violent marijuana offense, or be the parent, guardian, or spouse of such a person;

  • Live in a ZIP code or Census tract with high poverty, unemployment, marijuana imprisonment rates;

  • Graduated from a unaccredited school district, or lives in a ZIP code with such a district for at least three of the past five years​​​