ST. LOUIS – Enrollment in Missouri’s new medical marijuana program is continuing at a pace of nearly 1,000 new patients each week, overtaking an early University of Missouri estimate of its full first-year impact in fewer than five months.
As of Monday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) reports approving a total of 21,739 medical cannabis patient and caregiver applications since enrollment began in late June — with another nearly 2,000 applications pending review.
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.
Those cultivation, infused product manufacturing and retail dispensary licenses are expected be issued as soon as the end of next month, with the first retail sales expected in late spring 2020. Nearly 2,300 aspiring business owners are pursuing the coveted state facility licenses.
“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 MoCannTrade (Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association)).
Organizers of the 2018 Missouri ballot initiative that enshrines a patient’s right to medical cannabis in the state Constitution estimated that between 125,000 and 150,000 Missourians would enroll in the program, or roughly 2 percent of the state’s 6.1 million residents.
The year-to-date DHSS data shows those projections are far more reliable than a report by a team of University of Missouri economists earlier this year which predicted that just 19,000 patients would be enrolled at the end of the program’s first year.
At the current rate of patient and caregiver enrollment, the predicted third-year count of 26,000 participants in the MU study will be eclipsed by Christmas, Mullins noted.
Under Article XIV of the state Constitution, which voters overwhelmingly approved in November 2018, Missouri residents with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and 20 other qualifying conditions can purchase or cultivate medical cannabis with a physician’s certification. The new law also provides physicians with the discretion to certify patients who have other chronic and debilitating medical conditions that could benefit from medical marijuana.
MoCannTrade (Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association) is an association of business owners, health care providers, professionals, patients and community leaders responsible for helping to implement a successful, safe and compliant medical marijuana program in Missouri.
The membership-based association is directed by a board of diverse professionals experienced in medical marijuana, healthcare, law, pharmaceuticals, science, agriculture, law enforcement, security, commercial real estate, finance, public affairs and regulatory sectors.