Last weekend, the first licensed cannabis dispensaries set up shop in St. Louis, Missouri, and were received with long queues. The two dispensaries, which are managed by N’Bliss, launched on Saturday in Manchester and Ellisville. The company is expected to open another dispensary on Monday in the Kansas City area. These openings come nearly two years after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment that would allow the sale of medical cannabis.
Under state guidelines, people need approval from a doctor as well as a state medical cannabis card in order to to purchase the drug. The forecast predicts that initially, prices will be high as the supply is insufficient at this stage in the state. When the stores opened on Saturday, N’Bliss was selling an eighth of an ounce of cannabis at $125.
One of the consumers, Kim Haller, admitted to standing in line on the dispensary’s opening day because she was frustrated with the costly injections and medications that she pays for in order to treat her multiple sclerosis. Haller explained that she had been purchasing cannabis from a licensed caregiver.
Haller, age 54 and a St. Peters resident, asserted that the cannabis treatment helped with her sleep as well as her spasticity. For those who may not be well acquainted with spasticity, the condition causes muscles to tighten or stiffen, preventing normal fluid movement.
Brenda Dougherty, a consumer from the Kansas City area, hopes to be one of the first customers at Fresh Green’s when it opens in Lee’s Summit this week. The 57-year-old who hails from Warrensburg remarked that she believed cannabis would help relieve her chronic pain condition. She admitted to having tried the cannabis treatment before, adding that it had worked and that she was not keen on taking any more pills.
The Department of Health and Human Services in Missouri expects that by the end of the year, a majority of the 192 state-approved dispensaries will be up and running. The state has posted an interactive map that can be used to track the status of all approved medical cannabis businesses.
Department director, Dr. Randall Williams, stated in a news release that patients had always been the motivating force behind the state’s desire to implement the medical cannabis program. He then added that state officials greatly appreciated how hard everyone had worked so that patients could start accessing a well-regulated and safe program.
As more jurisdictions open up to marijuana, several companies are expanding to address consumers’ or patients’ needs. One company you should watch is The Alkaline Water Company Inc. (NASDAQ: WTER) (CSE: WTER). The company specializes in using its proprietary electrolysis process to produce pH-balanced water at a constant pH of 8.8, and the company is widening its product offerings rapidly.
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