Cannabis industry blooming in state, Southeast region

The marijuana business has become a billion-dollar industry in Missouri, spurred by voters legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes in 2022.

In Cape Girardeau and beyond, dispensaries compete to bring in customers while managing the limitations set upon the industry.

"We've seen a huge spike in not only the amount of patients and customers we have, but the types of products we get in," Hayden Cummins, general manager of Bloom Medicinals in Cape Girardeau said. "It's such a huge market of what people want. We're getting so much new product in, which not only helps people try new things but helps other companies get some of their products on the shelf."

The latest information released this month by the state Department of Health and Senior Services reveals the state has nearly doubled its cumulative sales of marijuana since recreational sales began.

The state had sold $642 million of medicinal marijuana from October 2020 through January 2023. Once recreational sales started, consumers have purchased $592 million of cannabis from February through June of 2023 alone. Total marijuana sales eclipsed the $1 billion mark in May and have now reached $1.23 billion.

The majority of sales -- $444 million worth -- came from recreational sales, Medicinal sales have steadily decreased over time.

Cummins said medical patients often have a particular product they rely on and are more interested in the benefits it can provide them. Recreational users, meanwhile, might try several products looking to find a new favorite. Cummins' business has seen increasingly more customers over the last few months.

This can lead to drawbacks. Certain plants can only be grown at certain times of the year, leading to shortages if products prove especially popular.

"Now if you go up to St. Louis, good luck even finding smokable flower up there. The market is so crazy up there, a lot of dispensaries don't even have products on the shelf, so we're lucky to have a lot of variety down here," Cummins said.

Bloom Medicinals operates a dozen stores across five states with three locations in Missouri. Most of the stores are located close to state lines; Cummins said his location has regular customers from as far as Georgia and New York.

Attracting so many out-of-state customers has proved bountiful for the state of Missouri. With state sales taxes of 4% and 6% on medicinal and recreational marijuana, respectively, the state has generated tens of millions in revenue. Much of the medicinal tax is used for veterans' health care services, according to the state Revisor of Statutes website. Recreational taxes mainly support veterans' care, drug addiction treatment programs and the state's public defender system.

Provisions in the law legalizing recreational cannabis allow for a local 3% sales tax increase. Cummins said this has led to some debate among local and state governments and is just another aspect of an industry where regulations can swiftly change.

"Today could be completely different, rule-wise, compared to yesterday," he said. "(We're) constantly adapting, trying to figure out what's to come."

One new regulation will be a requirement for plain packaging. Starting July 31, 2023, every cannabis product sold in Missouri, excepting seeds and plants, must come in opaque, resealable, monochromatic packaging with the word 'marijuana' prominently displayed in black or white text. The packaging must also contain no more than two monochromatic symbols on it.

"Color is marketing, just the same as cereal," Cummins said. "The more eye-popping (your product is), the more attention your product is going to get ... for a lot of these companies, they're going to have to redesign their logos completely."

The changes affect more than just the growers. Dispensaries like Cummins' need to heavily advertise and discount items in their current packaging before they're no longer allowed to sell them.

Another new Missouri law, signed by Gov. Mike Parson on July 6, requires fingerprint background checks from every person working in the cannabis industry. With different states having different laws, businesses need to stay up to date on what law applies where or risk financial and legal troubles. Companies need to be proactive rather than reactive to changes.

Bloom's workers have made several changes of their own recently, such as hiring a sign spinner and completely redesigning the dispensary's interior.

"It was more of a doctor's office vibe in here, and it's more a dispensary now. More inviting, more colorful ... when you go into a dispensary in California, Colorado or Michigan, this is more of what you're going to see," Cummins said. There are also plans to build a larger parking lot to cater to an expected influx of college students in the fall.

The dispensary doesn't have any outside advertising aside from the sign-spinner. Cummins relies mainly on word of mouth to bring in new customers.

He said he wants to have the business participate in highway cleanups or donate to charities in the future. After all, he said, dispensaries are still local businesses like other types of stores.

"We're more than just ... a cannabis business," Cummins said. "We're still part of the community, and we want to do everything we can to better our community."