Medical marijuana patient permit applications outpace estimates

Demand for medical marijuana usage permits in Missouri is outpacing initial estimates for the number of permit applications state officials expected.

As of Monday, the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) had approved 21,739 medical cannabis patient and caregiver applications since enrollment began in late June. DHSS has nearly 2,000 applications in the review process and is issuing permits at a rate of almost 1,000 a week.

Those numbers are only expected to increase once the state awards the nearly 350 available operating licenses to cultivate, manufacture and dispense medical cannabis in Missouri, according to sources familiar with the medical marijuana industry. Missouri could begin issuing licenses to medical marijuana-related businesses as early as the end of December, with the first retail sales expected in the late spring or summer of 2020. DHSS has received nearly 2,300 applications from aspiring medical marijuana business owners.

"From patients and caregivers to entrepreneurs, investors and job seekers, the excitement produced by this new industry's arrival here in Missouri is palpable," said Andrew Mullins, executive director of the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association in a news release earlier this week.

Economists at the University of Missouri had predicted 19,000 patients and caregivers would enroll in the medical cannabis program by the end of the year, but at its current pace, DHSS will potentially issue about 26,000 permits by the end of the year. That will significantly exceed the 22,543 permits a study by the University of state Department of Economics predicted would be issued by the end of 2021, according to information provided by Missouri NORML, the Missouri affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Missouri voters approved a ballot issue in November 2018 allowing Missouri residents with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and a number of other qualifying conditions to purchase medical cannabis with a physician's certification and prescription.

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