Just days after Missouri approved recreational marijuana, some Kansas City area weed businesses say they are ramping up their facilities and preparing to cash in from increased sales.
Others, however, are more relieved than elated. They view legalized marijuana, which voters statewide approved Tuesday, as a lifeline in a medical industry that is oversupplied with too few customers to go around.
Businesses in the established medical marijuana industry were counting on Tuesday’s vote, which legalized recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21. They hope recreational sales, expected to start in early February, will help their businesses stay afloat.
“I don’t know that too many people would have been able to survive had that ballot initiative not pass,” said Chris McHugh, CEO of Vertical, an indoor cultivation, manufacturing facility and dispensary in St. Joseph.
While nearly two-thirds of Missouri voters approved legalizing medical marijuana in 2018, the state currently reports only about 200,000 active medical marijuana patients. Just more than 53% of voters approved recreational marijuana on Tuesday. Business owners like McHugh are cautiously optimistic that legalized recreational marijuana will increase the number of people willing to buy into the industry.
“There’s just not enough demand to keep the industry going and it’s slowly starving to death,” McHugh said.
Right now, McHugh said he’s working with the Missouri Department of Health and…
