KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dispensaries in the Kansas City area could start selling recreational marijuana as early as Friday. But questions remain.
On Thursday afternoon, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced it has cleared some dispensaries to begin sales Friday.
The DHSS will begin approving applications for medical cannabis dispensaries that have requested their licenses, meaning dispensaries that have their facilities ready can begin selling legal cannabis to those over 21 years of age.
Rob Sullivan, president and owner of dispensary Fresh Green, says he'll be open at 9 a.m. Friday in case his license is approved.
"As far as I can tell, we may well be open at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning for adult-use sales," Sullivan said. "I can state for certain, no one will be able to until 12:01 on the third when we see if we get the license."
But Sullivan says there is still a lack of knowledge in the way the state is rolling out the information.
Dispensaries were initially told licenses would be approved over the course of the weekend, but the state's note Thursday leaves Sullivan under the impression all licenses will be approved Friday.
With moving up the deadline, he believes not all dispensaries will be ready.
"There's other things you have to do — you had to write operating procedures, you had to prepare your inventory," Sullivan said.
Sullivan also thinks the rollout could cause some inequities in sales among businesses.
"So if there's one person open and we're not open, we're gonna miss out on that," he said. "Also, with the three to four times revenue of sales that are predicted for adult use, that would be 120, 150 thousand dollars that someone else would be making."
Regardless, Sullivan says his company is prepared in case he gets the nod.
"Otherwise, we're completely ready," he said.
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