KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The state of Missouri announced cannabis sales topped $100 million in the first month of recreational sales.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services released the sales Friday as part of its monthly report. $71.7 million came from adult-use sales and $31.2 million from medical-use sales.
“Oh, it’s been out of control,” Ashley Valdez, a medical marijuana patient, said. “Your inventory is non-existent and the waits are pretty long.”
Valdez said she’s noticing the bigger crowds since the recreational rollout started. She’s also noticed fewer options of produce inside the dispensaries.
“Before, you had a lot more choices,” she said. “You had a lot more variety for sure, especially with the flower, but now it’s slim to none.”
Tyler Diltz is vice president of retail for From the Earth. The company owns five locations in the metro.
“Very busy. All day, every day,” he said.
When asked if it’s felt like a month, Diltz disagreed.
"It feels like a year,” he said.
Diltz said each dispensary is used to seeing 50 to 150 medical patients daily. Since recreational sales started, some locations can see up to a thousand people a day.
“Some of our stores, we were expecting them to get a lot busier, but there’s been days where we’ve seen 12 times that we’re seeing in medical market,” he said.
The surprising traffic patterns led the company to shift employees to different locations.
“It’s definitely caught on like a wildfire,” Valdez said.
—
