Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services has received thousands of applications for medical marijuana cultivation, dispensary, manufacturing and testing laboratory licenses.

DHSS reports 2,163 online applications had been received by 4:30 p.m. Monday. It was a big jump on the figures we reported in July, when the tally stood at under 500 by early in the month. 800 applications were received in the final 24 hours of the application period.

The Missouri Health Department announced earlier this week that it received 2,163 applications for medical cannabis facility licenses by the deadline at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. State regulators will need to choose only 348 license winners by the end of this year. Of that 348, 192 will be for dispensaries, 86 for manufacturing, 60 for cultivation facilities and ten for testing facilities.

Missouri approved a ballot initiative last year to legalize cannabis and officials have said that the interest from prospective cannabis business owners has been overwhelming.

Applications started being accepted on August 3 with an original deadline of August 17 but the Health Department decided to extend that until Monday to accommodate the interest.

The medical marijuana facility application period closed at 4:30 p.m. today, and the Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) received approximately 2,100 applications by the extended deadline. The application system received over 1,200 applications in the last three days, including over 800 applications in the last 24 hours. Applications are from those hoping to obtain licenses from DHSS for cultivation, dispensary, manufacturing, testing laboratory and transportation facilities for the state’s medical marijuana program. A final, official count of applications received will be available tomorrow.

Missouri has begun accepting applications for its medical marijuana program as of Saturday, August 3, and the competition looks like it will be fierce.

Up to 2,000 applications are expected to vie for 348 licenses, and already over 600 applicants have paid the application fees before the applications even opened, according to the Missouri Department of Health.

The licenses are divided between different categories — 60 for cultivation facilities, 86 for processors, 192 for dispensaries and 10 for testing laboratories.

Since medical marijuana was passed in Amendment 2 last year, there’s been a lot of change in Missouri already. Marijuana will be legal for those with a qualifying medical condition and the legalization is bringing business, new rules and more changes to Springfield and Missouri.

Here’s everything you should know:

What does a medical marijuana card do?

A qualifying patient card will allow a patient to enter licensed dispensaries and possess and consume medical cannabis in keeping with Missouri law.

By law, patients and caregivers are required to have their medical marijuana ID card available when purchasing or in possession of medical marijuana. 

The U.S. government is growing the largest crop of research marijuana in five years, responding to interest in varieties with high levels of THC and CBD.

The government is the only source of pot for nearly all research in the U.S., while it still considers it illegal and dangerous.

Scientists have asked for weed that more closely matches what’s sold in states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana, the National Institute on Drug Abuse said in an email Thursday to The Associated Press.

The federal agency said it plans to grow 2,000 kilograms this year at the University of Mississippi, which holds the sole federal contract for producing marijuana. That’s enough for 5 million joints, although the government provides the marijuana in different forms.

Missouri legalized medical marijuana through a vox populi when the people of The Show-Me state voted on a ballot measure in 2018.

Missouri may not be even thinking about legalizing recreational cannabis, but they sure as hell are working hard on establishing their medical cannabis system.

Missouri medical cannabis was legalized via a ballot measure in 2018, where it was decided that patients would be allowed to use marijuana as a medicine to treat a rather wide spectrum of illnesses.

According to the measure which passed, called Amendment 2, medical patients will be allowed to grow cannabis at home, but also to get permission for medical marijuana, even without qualifying conditions.

A unit of wheat is a called a bushel, and a standard weight of potatoes is called a century. But hemp as a fully legal U.S. agricultural commodity is so new, a unit of hemp seed doesn't have a universal name or an agreed-upon quantity.

That's one example of the startling lack of uniformity -- and accountability -- in an industry that's sprung up almost overnight since the U.S. late last year removed hemp from the controlled substances list.

A global hemp research lab announced June 13 in Oregon, coupled with a nascent national review board for hemp varieties and a handful of seed certification programs nationwide, are the first stabs at addressing those concerns -- and at creating accountability by standardizing U.S. hemp for a global market.