Medical cannabis sales in Missouri have dropped for seven months straight – and the trend is likely to continue.
October 2020 saw the first legal medical marijuana sale in the state. The first licensed sales for adult/recreational use occurred in February this year. As in many other states where adult use marijuana has been made legal, this triggered a fall in medicinal sales in Missouri.
Medical cannabis sales since February this year (in USD):
- January: $37 M
- February: $31.2 M
- March: $32.7 M
- April: $30.1 M
- May: $28.3 M
- June: $26.0 M
- July: $24.5 M
- August: $22.0 M
- September: $19.6 M
- October: $17.6 M
So, in a timeframe of just under a year, medicinal sales have more than halved. Active registered patient counts have also plummeted – from a program high of just shy of 206,000 in December last year down to 127,438 as at September this year. There were just 5,898 patient applications in September 2023, compared to 20,493 in March last year.
Active patient cultivator numbers are also dropping off. In March last year, there were 28,279 active registrations. The figure had dropped to 18,360 as at September this year. In Missouri, licensed patients can obtain a patient cultivation card from the state’s department of health to cultivate up to six flowering marijuana plants, six non-flowering plants under 14 inches tall or more, and six non- flowering plants under 14 inches tall in a single enclosed locked facility.
While October 2023 also saw a drop in recreational purchases, medicinal sales are dwarfed by the adult use market, which racked up $95.5 million in October ($98.2 million in September).
Whether it’s recreational or medicinal cannabis sales, the state’s coffers benefit. A 6% tax is in place for retail sales of recreational marijuana, and a 4% tax is applied on the retail sale of medicinal cannabis. This means that in October, the state generated approximately $6,434,000 in cannabis tax revenue – $704,000 from medical and $5,730,000 from recreational sales. This revenue pays for program costs, with the remainder going towards supporting veterans, drug addiction treatment programs and contributing to the Missouri Public Defenders System’s budget.
