- More than 500 applications have been submitted for the hundreds of medical cannabis business licences to be handed out in Missouri
- State cannabis industry projected to top $100 million by 2025
- Multi-state operators (MSO’s) “represent a major portion” of applicants
A new medical cannabis market in the U.S. is about to award 338 medical cannabis licenses. Cannabis MSO’s have set their sights on a large number of these licenses.
As reported by MJBizDaily, “large multistate marijuana operators” (MSO’s) “represent a major portion” of the 500 applicants for the new medical cannabis business licenses that the State plans to hand out. Curaleaf Holdings (US: CURLF CAN: CURA) alone is looking to open up 8 stores in the state.
Missouri became the 33rd state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes in November. The state must approve at least 60 commercial growers, 86 facilities that manufacture marijuana-infused products and 192 dispensary licenses.
Cannabis sales in Missouri are project to exceed $100 million by 2025.
U.S. states continue to accelerate the pace of legalization, despite a recent setback for the legal cannabis industry when New York (once again) failed to push through a legalization bill. Illinois recently became the 11th state to authorize recreational cannabis sales. Maine has just promised to (finally) open cannabis stores in that state by 2020.
Few U.S. states that continue to prohibit (legal) consumption/sales of cannabis aren’t at least making some movement toward legalization. Perhaps most importantly, media reports indicate that Congress will schedule a hearing to review the federal status of cannabis as a “Schedule 1” (illegal) drug.
This comes at a time when public support for legalization continues to hit new highs in the United States. In particular, Republican opposition to full cannabis legalization is crumbling (now only 37%).
For investors, this means that new markets are being opened up for MSO’s in the U.S. at least as fast as these companies are able to mobilize operations into additional states. And more of these "green pastures" can be expected to open up at an accelerating rate.
With the 2020 election cycle fully underway, this puts more pressure on politicians of both major parties to reflect the will of the voters and implement full cannabis legalization as soon as is practical.