Marijuana now legal in Mo.; one Heartland dispensary ready to serve recreational users

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - One month ago, Missouri voters approved Amendment 3, making recreational marijuana legal in the state.

The new law officially went into effect on Thursday, December 8, but that doesn’t mean you can legally buy it just yet, or use it everywhere, and that comes with some confusion.

At Greenlight Dispensary in Cape Girardeau, manager Sarah Gunther-Jackson said now that marijuana is legal in Missouri, the phones haven’t stopped ringing.

“We have been consistently answering questions and letting a lot of people know early February is when we’re able to serve our adult use patients,” Gunther-Johnson said.

Sales of recreational marijuana will not begin until dispensaries update their licenses. A process that Legal of Missouri campaign manager John Payne said could take months.

“The amendment, it sets a deadline for when they have to issue those comprehensive licenses to the existing licensees and that deadline is 60 days after the requests are filed so the requests are starting today so they will have until February 6th to get those done,” Payne explained.

Payne said the state expects to add additional dispensary licenses throughout the state.

“In the relatively near future, beginning this summer and into the fall, the department will also take applications for new business licenses that will ultimately include at least 48 new dispensaries across the state,” Payne said.

Gunther-Jackson said she looks forward to expanding their services for adult use as well.

“I know a lot of people were hesitant to go through the medical card process so to be able to kind of break through some of that additional stigma and let people know that it’s a little bit simpler process than sometimes they think it is,” Gunther-Jackson continued.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, personal cultivation application forms will be available sometime next year for those who want to grow a limited amount on their own.

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