KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Marijuana sold like weeds grow along a Missouri roadside the first weekend of legal sales in the state.
Customers bought $12.7 million of legal adult recreation use marijuana from February 3 through February 5.
"It's been busy, to say the least," said Jericho Heese with dispensary Fresh Karma.
Industry expert Jack Cardetti with the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association says Missouri's first day demand for recreational marijuana nearly doubled what neighboring state Illinois saw on its first day of recreational sales in 2020.
Cardetti says supply of the product is no problem.
"Here in the state of Missouri, in the calendar year of 2022, Missouri produced 92-thousand more pounds than they sold," Cardetti said. "So what that tells us is that there's a healthy supply."
He says there's plenty of room for new jobs.
"To be able to supply that demand, obviously there's going to have to be more jobs created," Cardetti said.
Cardetti expects growth in every part of the supply chain from farming, manufacturing and selling.
"Missouri, along with a lot of Midwest states, lost a lot of our manufacturing base over the last 20 years," Cardetti said. "And this is one industry that's actually clawing some of those jobs back."
Colleges are beginning to offer classes in cultivation and retail and creating a pathway to dozens of local jobs.
"We've added over 50 members to just the retail side and we plan to add more," Heese said.
Rob Sullivan, with Fresh Green dispensary, said it's simple supply and demand.
"They've been waiting for this day and they came," he said. "They showed up."
