Missouri has counted more than $833.4 million in recreational marijuana sales since adult use was approved a year ago, and at least 100,000 non-violent marijuana convictions have been erased from state records.
On Dec. 8, 2022, it became legal for adults in Missouri to buy recreational marijuana after voters approved a statewide ballot initiative. Sales began in early February, and 215 dispensaries were initially licensed by the Department of Health and Senior Services.
In the first month of cannabis sales after legal pot became available, Missouri generated $71.7 million, according to data from the Department of Health and Senior Services.
By comparison, Illinois sold $39 million of legal cannabis the first month after recreational marijuana became legal in January 2020.
All cannabis purchases in Missouri have a 6% state tax applied, which means $49 million in revenue has been collected so far to fund veteran’s services, drug addiction treatment and Missouri’s public defender system, as outlined in the voter-passed legislation.
Voters in Columbia and across Boone County later approved two additional 3% taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana in the April election. Columbia now has a 3% tax on sales, but Boone County’s 3% tax applies only to areas outside city limits and cannot be tacked onto the city tax.
During the month of October after consumers began to pay the extra sales taxes, the city collected $50,000 in revenue, according to Sydney Olsen in the City Manager’s Office.
After recreational pot became legal, the city received $441,000 from the state sales tax during the 2023 fiscal year. The revenue is to be distributed according to the provisions in the law.
According to Kip Kendrick, the presiding Boone County commissioner, sales tax revenue from marijuana sales has totaled $48,968 to date.
Val Martinez, director of marketing for 3Fifteen Primo Cannabis, said the dispensary saw double or triple the volume of customers in the first three months after recreational marijuana became legal. The dispensary on Ponderosa Street also became an outlet for medical marijuana after it was legalized in November 2018.
“We kind of knew it was coming, so I know we doubled our staff, if not tripled it in Columbia,” Martinez said.
The customer demographics of the marijuana customer have shifted as well, she said. The average customer tended to be between 30 and 60 years of age when marijuana was only legal for medical purposes, but now she sees more customers in their 20s. Consequently, dispensaries are now tasked with accommodating a broader spectrum of customers, each with diverse reasons for using marijuana.
“We’re just seeing a wider demographic of individuals coming through now that we’re not just relying on medical patients,” Martinez said. “Not just people looking just to get help with better sleep or ailments, but also those looking for using our products in more of a recreational manner.”
Expungement of marijuana-related offenses for non-violent offenders was a key element in Missouri’s recreational marijuana law. Passage led the state to become the first to take such a step, according to Legal Missouri, an advocate for marijuana reform.
Those convicted with less than 3 pounds of marijuana have automatic relief under the law, while others must petition for release from incarceration, probation or parole.
According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, more than 100,000 marijuana cases were expunged in Missouri in the past year.
Boone County Circuit Clerk Sherry Terrell said her office has reviewed 6,240 cases since December 2022. Of those, 5,165 were not eligible for expungement, and 1,076 have been expunged.
The office has just 546 cases to review in the case management system before the expungement process will be complete for Boone County, she said. Terrell’s office has been sent 233 cases from the courts to review and expunge. And an additional 41 cases await redaction, the final step of the process.
Overall, she said the 18 members of her office staff have spent an additional 1,449 hours outside of their usual workload working on the expungement process over the past year.
In comparison to other counties in Missouri, Boone County is still behind its neighbors. According to Dan Viets, coordinator of Missouri NORML, Cole County had expunged 1,107 cases by Dec. 8, and Buchanan County had expunged 2,711 cases. Both have smaller populations than Boone County.
Greene County, which includes Springfield, leads the count with 4,186 cases expunged so far, Viets said. Meanwhile, St. Louis City has expunged just 1,696 cases, while St. Louis County has expunged 3,311 cases.
Legalization of marijuana could prevent about 20,000 marijuana arrests each year, Viets said. “There’s a tremendous savings in the amount of time and money that is spent by police and prosecutors, and by judges and probation officers.”
