When will medical marijuana dispensaries open in Missouri? To many people’s surprise, there are a handful of dispensaries that are already open, or close to opening, even though there is no marijuana available for purchase yet.

So far, four dispensaries in the St. Louis and Ozarks region have passed final inspection, but as of September 2020, they are only able to sell CBD.

What patients want and need, of course, are products that contain THC and CBD. Cannabis plants are being grown across the state, and a few cultivation facilities are getting close to their first harvest. Beleaf Medical was the first cultivation facility to pass inspection in June 2020. In total, three of the 60 cultivation centers have passed inspection and are actively growing cannabis. To produce at the scale Missouri patients will need, the state will need a lot more cultivation centers to pass inspection to provide a steady stream of flower for dispensaries. But still, the good news is that several grow sites are beginning their first harvests. The bad news is that there is nowhere for the flower to be tested.

The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) requires all marijuana sold in dispensaries first be tested and inspected. But as of September 2020, there are no testing facilities open. Lyndall Fraker, the head of Missouri’s medical marijuana program, is hopeful a testing facility in eastern Missouri will open before the end of the month. But take Fraker’s hopefulness with a grain of salt, he’s made other big statements before that didn’t come to fruition.

When DHSS issued marijuana business licenses earlier this year, they warned winners that facilities had to be operational within one year of receiving the license. Failure to open could risk businesses losing their license, consequently losing thousands of dollars. This risk obviously motivates testing, manufacturing, transportation, cultivation, and dispensary facilities to open as soon as possible. However, DHSS has not stated whether or not they will grant more time for businesses to pass inspection due to COVID-19. If DHSS does not extend the deadline, then all cultivation facilities would have to be open by the end of December 2020, and all dispensaries will be required to open by the end of January 2021.

While there is a lot of speculation about when marijuana will be available for purchase at dispensaries, these two dates are the most concrete thing we have available right now.

Learn more here about getting your medical marijuana card!