Marijuana flower shortage forces dispensaries to scale back 4/20 celebrations

Posted April 20, 2023 on Springfield News-Leader

Thursday is 4/20, the unofficial holiday marked by marijuana enthusiasts around the world.

But Missourians looking to celebrate last year's legalization vote may be in for a surprise, as area marijuana dispensaries are being forced to scale back on product due to a statewide shortage in marijuana flower.

Two months after recreational products became available, sales remain higher than initially anticipated.

After comparing data with other states that legalized recreational marijuana, Missouri's industry anticipated a 200-300% increase in marijuana sales as the industry shifted from medical customers to recreational, Flora Farms President Mark Hendren said. Instead, the state has experienced a 300-400% increase in sales.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, retail marijuana sales in January, before recreational products were available, were recorded at about $642 million. At the end of March, about $871 million was recorded in both medical and recreational sales.

Hendren said due to this anticipation, Flora Farms, which operates two cultivation facilities in Humansville, began stockpiling product early. Prior to recreational products' availability in February, Flora Farms had between 6,000-10,000 pounds of marijuana in back stock. Today, the two cultivation facilities have only about 25% of this product left.

"We are having to allocate flower among all our customers, because we want everybody to have a reasonable amount," Hendren said. "It's not just, get all you want, like it used to be, but most of our customers can acquire flower every week." Flora Farms ships product to 175-180 dispensaries in the state.

Revival 98 Dispensary Director of Retail Jason Bach said the dispensary is "scaling back" for its 4/20 celebration to ensure there is enough product moving forward.

"We probably won't have as much of a variety, but we hope to keep the flower supply coming in," Bach said.

To combat the shortage, Hendren said Flora Farms is constructing a third cultivation facility in Humansville, which he expects to be fully operational by early fall. This third facility will allow for 600-800 pounds more of marijuana production per week.

Flora Farms has also employed about 50 additional staff in the last 45 days to increase productivity. Hendren said this has helped increase the facilities' internal production by about 40%.

A significant part of the marijuana cultivation process is pre-planning. The entire cultivation process, from cutting a clone from a mother plant, to packaging product for sale, can take between three to five months, Hendren said.

As of Tuesday, 50 of the state's 67 approved cultivation facilities are operational, according to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Communications Director Lisa Cox. Each cultivation facility can use up to 30,000-square-feet of flowering canopy. Cox said on average, most of these facilities are using just over 15,000-square-feet and only about 37% of the state's total cultivation flowering canopy capacity is being used.

Will the price of marijuana flower increase?

In addition to the two cultivation facilities in Humansville, Flora Farms operates four dispensaries in the area. Hendren said his dispensaries have had to raise the price of flower products but by no more than 10%. He added that he does not expect the price to increase any more than that.

Since recreational products hit the market in February, Hendren said sales have been "very consistent."

"We've had more business than we've expected, particularly in the state border areas, particularly states that do not have a cannabis program at all or the ones still limited to medical," Hendren said. "We are seeing a lot of people come in from other states to take advantage of our new constitutional amendment."

Bach echoed Hendren and said business at Revival 98 has been "steady and consistent" over the last two months. On weekdays, the dispensary typically has about 200 sales and on Friday and Saturdays, this number is closer to 300.

As far as the price, Bach said the dispensary is only increasing prices on flower products due to the shortage. He said for one-eighth ounce of flower, the price has increased about $5.

The origins of 4/20, celebrated on April 20, remain hazy, but many believe it started in the 1970s. As medical and recreational marijuana is legalized throughout the country, the holiday has shifted from being a time for marijuana advocates to rally for its legalization to something more commercialized.