Pot sales set to start: Missouri medical marijuana dispensaries just waiting for product

Staff stood ready. Signs advertised gummies and oils and concentrates and beverages. Glass jars, capped with a magnifying lid — for close observation of marijuana bud textures and colors — waited, empty. All the store needed was product.

“We want to give back to communities,” said Bradford Goette, 53, a co-owner of N’Bliss Cannabis, just east of Highway 141. “Maybe the city’s for some people, but we’ve got plenty of people out here, and everybody deserves access.”

The state of Missouri has now approved medical marijuana users, growers, laboratories and dispensaries. A backlog has kept product from arriving, yet, at stores. But owners like Goette expect that to change, any day. Missouri-grown marijuana is being tested by state-licensed labs even now. They expect to make the first sales in the state as soon as this week.

Voters approved medical marijuana almost two years ago, making Missouri the 33rd state to legalize cannabis as medicine. Hundreds applied to be growers and sellers last year, and the state began writing rules, accepting applications, collecting fees, and, by February, had awarded all licenses. More than 800 unsuccessful applicants have appealed.

Missouri has issued 60 licenses to grow pot, 86 to make marijuana-infused products and 192 to open dispensaries; the vast majority are still setting up and working through state regulations. The state expects two dozen dispensaries in the St. Louis area.

But, as in Illinois, which legalized recreational marijuana at the beginning of this year, growing schedules and supply must catch up with demand.

N’Bliss expects to only have marijuana flowers in stock, at first. Marijuana takes 90 days at minimum to grow healthy buds, Goette said. Products requiring extraction from fresh flower will take a bit longer to come onto shelves.

The shop currently sells CBD products in the front section of its store, which is open to the public.

On Tuesday, dispensary management opened the back portion for a media tour; once marijuana arrives, only medical card holders will be allowed on the sales floor.

The front half feels like an herbal tea shop or a college headshop, the back like a doctor’s office or a brand-new Apple store. Patients with medical cards will be signed in and verified, then led into a separate room.

Here, patients meet with wellness specialists to hash out their needs. Nirvana Investments, the parent company of N’Bliss, uses a platform called Seed, which guides patients through a series of questions on a tablet to help them choose.

Chad Huelsman, 48, assistant manager at N’Bliss, lost both parents and his older brother to cancer. Huelsman researched medical cannabis to help his brother transition from using too many prescription pills with bad side effects.

“We found that cannabis helped with a lot of those ailments,” Huelsman said. “It was a much better solution.”

N’Bliss has a shop in Ellisville, and plans to open in Festus and House Springs next.

Janelle O’Dea • 314-340-8349 @jayohday on Twitter jodea@post-dispatch.com