Marijuana

Business owners say they had no idea they were paying marijuana prices for a ‘synthetic’ THC that had been converted from hemp.

The industry has sold more than $715 million of marijuana in the nearly 7 months since recreational sales began in February. Adult-use products account for almost $550 million of that total.

Missouri law prohibits smoking marijuana in public places, unless local governments pass ordinances to permit it. But, what does that mean for Evolution Festival this weekend?

Marijuana testing labs face pressure to say products have higher THC potency results or lose business. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' new rules — including an extra layer of “round robin” testing or auditing of marijuana products — aims to prevent the practice.

More than 40,000 marijuana cases have been expunged, but one advocate said some courts “have made little or no effort.”

Now that cannabis is legal in Missouri, drug-sniffing police dogs face early retirement if they are attracted to the smell of marijuana.

Amendment 3 legalized recreational marijuana in Missouri. It also required all nonviolent marijuana-related misdemeanors and felonies to be expunged by June 8 and December 8, respectively. But the state doesn’t know how many cases are left, and experts say the courts aren't equipped to handle those that remain before June or December.

Missouri regulators listed ZIP codes that qualify as having historic incarceration rates for marijuana offenses in the new cannabis rules. None are in north St. Louis where about half of the state’s Black population resides.

Missouri’s emerging marijuana industry surpasses $1 billion in sales

Between recreational and medical marijuana, Missouri hit $350 million in sales in the first three months since the state began allowing dispensaries to sale legal weed. Yet cannabis business owners say those numbers could be even higher since cultivators and manufacturers aren’t working at max capacity.