Since Missouri opened their pre-application window at the beginning of 2019, the Show-Me state has seen an avalanche of enthusiasm for its medical cannabis program. MMLG’s experienced a lot of this first hand between conventions, trade shows and, oh yeah, the licensing process for numerous clients. But to gain a full appreciation of what Missouri has seen (and the challenge of seeking a license via competitive applications), MJBiz posted an in-depth breakdown of applicants by category.

By the numbers, over 2,200 applications were submitted for a total of 338 cultivation, dispensary and manufacturing licenses available in the state. Math geniuses have already determined that that’s about 1 license per 7 applications. But, and this is where it gets interesting for us licensing/cannabis consulting wonks, with applicants not being limited to how many licenses they could apply for, the breakdown is about 1.5 applications/applicant and 1.7/applicant when only looking at dispensary applications. Cresco Labs and Verano, two bigs from neighboring Illinois, submitted 48 applications between themselves (30 for Cresco and 18 by Verano.)

What does it all mean? Well, on the surface and as MJBiz explains, Missouri is a really good state to apply for an MMJ license in. Low patient threshold for qualifying ailments, reasonable application fees and a relatively high cap on licenses available all meant “bonanza” to MSOs and in-state cannapreneurs alike.

On a deeper level? Two things stick out like a pair of broken thumbs.

1. Cannabis is expensive. If you’re just checking in, John Q. Looky Lou, the plant-touching industry has a high threshold for entry and the costs go up from there.  For many in the industry, if you’re hiring an awesome cannabis consultancy like MMLG, or someone else who is less awesome, it only makes sense to try and go after more than one license if you’re working with the same (or very) similar ownership group on different applications.
2. There’s a sticky and preconceived notion that the cannabis industry is full of amateurs. This is patently misguided, but take another look at what Cresco Labs and Verano did in Missouri. If Cresco wins all 30 of their applications –they won’t but bear with us– they’d have a hair under 10% of the marketshare on their own and across the state before the first day of sales. Folks, cannabis is not amateur hour. The plant-touching industry is a competent, sophisticated and savvy group of slashing throat-types. Take note, newbies.