Recreational marijuana sales begin in Jefferson City
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
With dispensaries acquiring comprehensive licenses to sell recreational marijuana in Missouri, long lines formed in Jefferson City with customers ready to make legal purchases.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services issued comprehensive licenses Friday. DHSS spokesperson Lisa Cox said in an email Thursday that nearly all of Missouri’s licensed medical dispensaries requested to convert their medical license to a comprehensive license, which includes recreational use and medical use.
"We got notification late yesterday from DHSS and the state that we would potentially be receiving our comprehensive license today," Michael Lafrieda, the chief operating officer of Shangri-La dispensaries, said. "We confirmed that also with the city of Jefferson City too insure we can start recreational sales, they confirmed so we started at 8 am this morning."
Customers were in and out of the dispensary Friday, as some made their first marijuana purchase.
"We're seeing a lot of brand new recreational consumers coming through so we're excited to add them to our customer base/patient base," Lafrieda said. "I think we're seeing a lot of people -- especially the older generations -- that are extremely excited. We've been hearing a lot of I've been waiting my entire life for this."
Missouri Health and Wellness is another dispensary located in Jefferson City that received its comprehensive license Friday.
"We did have to wait for our comprehensive license and once we got that, we were cleared by the state," manager Katie West said. "It's hanging up on that wall in a pretty picture frame."
According to West, business was slow at first with people asking if they were able to buy, but as word spread, business started to pick up.
The law states anyone 21 years old and older is allowed to purchase and consume marijuana.
Recreational marijuana is still not being sold in Columbia. The Columbia City Council must first approve rules for business licenses in a meeting Monday before sales can begin. This likely means sales could begin in Columbia as early as Tuesday.
