Medical Cannabis Shortages Hit Missouri

Two months after making its first sale, Missouri’s medical cannabis system is experiencing shortages but industry experts are optimistic patients will have a wide range of medical cannabis products available soon. According to St. Louis Public Radio, Missouri has already approved 70,000 patient and caregiver licenses. At the moment, there are only dispensaries in the St. Louis metro area, Ellisville, St. Peters, Manchester, and Washington.

Jack Cardetti of the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association said that eventually there would be 192 dispensaries around the state.

“To put that into perspective, over in Metro East Illinois, there are only [three] dispensaries over there. The St. Louis area — the St. Louis region in general, on the Missouri side — is going to have two to three dozen dispensaries, so patients aren’t going to have to go halfway across the state to get their medicine.” — Cardetti, during an SLPR interview

Cardetti said Missouri has implemented its medical cannabis system relatively fast, only second to Oklahoma. “Just last week, the first infused product manufacturer got approved to start operating,” he said in the interview. “When someone walks into a dispensary right now, they’re mostly going to have flower to choose from. But in the coming weeks and months, they’ll be able to have the full assortment — edibles, tinctures, vapors and all of those.”

According to Mitch Meyers, CEO of BeLeaf Medical Co., “Part of the challenge is, if you only have a dispensary license, you can open, but you’re waiting for companies like ours or others, to get their cultivation or manufacturing license open, to be able to provide you product.”

“We are very fortunate to have a vertically integrated license,” Meyers said.