Missouri generated $71.7 million in adult-use cannabis sales after dispensaries began selling legal pot Feb. 3, according to data from the Department of Health and Senior Services.
Medical marijuana sales generated an additional $31.2 million, for a combined total of $102.9 million, according to DHSS data.
By comparison, medical marijuana sales generated $38.5 million in sales during the first six months of legalization, beginning October 2020, according to DHSS data.
The first full year of medical marijuana sales generated a total of around $210 million, according to a press release from Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association.
In Illinois, where adult-use marijuana sales began in January 2020, $39 million in legal cannabis was sold during the first month.
By December 2022, sales had reached a record high of $143 million for that month, according to the Illinois Department of Finance and Professional Regulation.
All purchases have a 6% tax applied. Proceeds from this tax are split between veteran’s services, drug addiction treatment and Missouri’s public defender system, as outlined in Amendment 3. Medical marijuana purchases will continue to have a 4% tax rate.
“This is going to generate a substantial amount of tax revenue for the state in very short order, and the first purpose that tax revenue will fund is expungement of marijuana convictions,” said Dan Viets, attorney and head of Missouri NORML.
