Missourians can expect to have access to recreational marijuana as soon as February.
After voters’ approval on Tuesday of Amendment 3, allowing anyone over the age of 21 to purchase marijuana products, Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services will begin to transition business licenses on Dec. 8. Businesses already licensed to dispense medical marijuana will be transitioned to recreational license holders.
In River Bend, a town just north of Independence, developers were quick to announce plans for a new entertainment district that would allow open use of marijuana. The district will include wedding venues, an amphitheater, restaurants and clubs.
Similar developments are unlikely in Kansas City, said Mayor Quinton Lucas.
“To me the biggest deal is how do you make sure you’re not actually creating things that are akin to a red light district,” Lucas told KCUR.
Instead, Lucas said, he sees Kansas City adopting a “cigar shop” mentality — where individual venues and shops decide their own individual use policies. Lucas said he wants to prevent development that would create “full marijuana areas over regions of the city.”
“You’re not going to see a dramatic change from the current entertainment districts you have now, from them having their own rules for these sorts of issues,” Lucas said. “I don’t expect us having, let’s say a Power and Light District-size giant weed smoking area.”
Under Amendment 3, public…
