People who say that the U.S. is a republic and not a democracy apparently haven’t heard of ballot measures. Every year, some states1 allow citizens to bypass their elected representatives and weigh in directly on an issue — bringing policy to the forefront of the campaign in a way it often is not in candidate elections.

No, these are not early voters for the 2020 election. The lines we're talking about in Missouri are outside dispensaries, where residents welcome the sale of legal medical marijuana, which has already proven wildly popular in the Show-Me State.

The sales began about two years after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment in the November 2018 election that allowed the sale of medical marijuana.

In October, Missouri became the latest “non-coast state” to see the popularity of cannabis explode, joining Illinois and Michigan. Both of those states started adult-use marijuana sales within the past year and have seen record sales.

A massive raid involving hundreds of investigators and 27 simultaneous search warrants in nine communities in Washington State has taken down an illegal weed-mailing ring based out of Seattle.

Oct. 17 marked the first day of medical cannabis sales in Missouri, and the state’s two operational cannabis retailers, N’Bliss and Fresh Green, have had quite the journey to serving patients in the nascent market.

N’Bliss, a subsidiary of Nirvana Investments, opened its first two stores in Manchester and Ellisville on Oct. 17, while Fresh Green opened for business in Lee’s Summit on Oct. 19.

“It was exciting—the energy is real,” N’Bliss Managing Partner and CEO Bradford Goette tells Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary of opening weekend.

Missouri's first licensed marijuana dispensaries opened this weekend in the St. Louis area with long lines.

The two dispensaries run by N'Bliss opened Saturday in Ellisville and Manchester. Another dispensary is expected to open Monday in the Kansas City area nearly two years after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow the sale of medical marijuana.

Missouri is getting closer to selling medical marijuana, as the state’s first testing facility begins inspecting the drug.

With the green light given for a cannabis testing laboratory to begin operations, Missouri’s medical marijuana program supply chain is now complete and will soon be serving patients. Last week’s approval of EKG Labs in St. Louis comes nearly two years after voters legalized the medicinal use of cannabis with the passage of a constitutional amendment in November 2018.