ST. LOUIS — The voters have decided recreational marijuana will soon be legal in Missouri after Amendment 3 passed with 53.1% of the vote. But it’s not as automatic as some might think.
We have just under a month before Amendment 3 goes into effect on Dec. 8. Then, there are several more months before Missourians can buy it for recreational use.
“Dispensaries will start transitioning to recreation no sooner than February 6. So, we get to be really excited, but things won't actually start to kick into gear until that time,” Kayla Brown, an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University who studies cannabis law and entrepreneurship, said.
Brown said the dispensaries already up and running will be the first ones to sell recreational products in addition to medical pot.
Brown also said there are still benefits for patients with a medical card.
“You would go in as a medical patient, you would show your card, and that would distinguish you from paying the recreational sales tax," Brown said. "You wouldn't be subject to that you would be subject to the medical program as it is currently and then you'd also be entitled to a higher THC."
Under Amendment 3, Missouri will collect a 6% sales tax on marijuana which counties and cities will have the opportunity to get in on.
But that doesn’t mean they have to.
Representatives from Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) oppose the amendment and are going to work with areas in Missouri that don't want dispensaries.
“There are ways to opt-out of that or kind of restrict the amount or level of saturation of advertising and of placement of dispensaries and things like that, how close is it to a school or public park, where kids are, things like that to things like potency caps,” Will Jones with SAM said.
Starting June 8, 2023, expungements for criminal marijuana offenses are automatic for most people but it will take time.
However, there are steps that some people will have to go through.
“So, hiring an attorney, which is pretty cost prohibitive to some people as well as going through the process, a judge can still say yes or no based on their discretion, and then you still have to get that file with the court,” Brown said.
Once stores are licensed on Feb. 6, anyone 21 years and older can buy up to 3 ounces of marijuana per day.
But you can be fined for using it in public in unauthorized areas.
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