In 2021, more Missourians applied for medical marijuana cards — and got them

Since 2020, more Missourians have applied for medical marijuana licenses, and more have been receiving them, according to the annual report from the Missouri Medical Marijuana Regulatory program. In 2021, 119,894 patient licenses were issued.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services published its third annual report on Tuesday.

In 2021, there was $190,674,516 of cumulative retail sales. More than $6 million in taxes was deposited into the Missouri Veterans Health and Care Fund, and more than $6.8 million was transferred to the Missouri Veterans Commission.

The report also looked at who holds medical marijuana cards, and where they’re at: 31 percent of all patients reside in the urban areas of St. Louis, Jackson and Greene counties. The majority of patients, 85.5 percent, have access to at least one dispensary in their county. That leaves 14.5 percent of patients in a county without a dispensary.

More patients are applying for — and receiving — medical marijuana cards

DHHS received over 193,000 applications in 2021, a 89.95% increase from 2020. There has been a 124% increase in active patients from 2020 to 2021.

Of the 122,274 new patient applications received in 2021, 98% of them were accepted. This was an increase from 2020, where only about 88% of patients who applied were issued cards.

[Read more at Springfield News-Leader]