From
Editor
As we celebrate the holidays and the commencement of a new year, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the significant events that have transpired recently.
First, we celebrate the holidays by sprinkling in some Holiday gift ideas throughout this issue, starting with“ Budtender Gift Picks for the Holidays” on page 16. You’ ll find“ Gifts & Gadgets for the Holidays— 10 Top Picks to Make Your Shopping Relaxing” on page 26, and writer Samantha Blum brings us“ Craft Cannabis and Christmas Stockings: A Micro Maker’ s Holiday Launch” on page 32. Plus, the many educational articles within this issue.
As of now, over 224 state-licensed marijuana dispensaries are operating in Missouri. You may see a sign on a storefront with the word“ Dispensary,” but included, but how can you tell the difference between a real state-licensed marijuana dispensary and one that is not?
If you have yet to visit a real state-licensed marijuana dispensary, you will be quite amazed. First, you will enter a secure lobby area with an armed guard, separated from the sales room by a locked door. There, you’ ll show your ID to prove you are 21 or older. You will then be allowed to access the sales room through the locked entryway. These are not your proverbial“ head shops,” where you walk in like any other store, but instead, high-tech facilities that feature everything from cutting-edge security systems to stunning interior design, tablet and electronic menu boards, elegant display cases, and streamlined checkout processes. That is a legitimate Missouri statelicensed marijuana dispensary.
What you don’ t see are the high-tech and state-of-the-art cultivation, manufacturing, and testing labs that not only produce safe, premium products for consumers but also employ tracking data from seed to sale. Every batch and individual item can be traced from the plant through laboratory testing, transportation to a dispensary, and ultimately to the person who purchased the product, ensuring complete safety and accountability for every package. These businesses have invested millions in constructing and operating their establishments under stringent standards and state regulations, ultimately providing you with the highest quality and safest cannabis medicine and products available in the county.
You may have seen recent headlines stating that, for the first time since the 2018 Farm Bill— which mistakenly allowed intoxicating THC products to be sold unregulated— the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives have voted to close this loophole. As part of appropriations legislation aimed at reopening the federal government, language championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell( R-Kentucky) was adopted to close the loophole that has allowed synthetic and intoxicating THC products to be sold. It was signed into law on November 11, 2025, by the President and will take effect 365 days after signing.
This loophole inadvertently allowed the sale of intoxicating hempderived products— everything from gummies, edibles, flower, and beverages— at gas stations to flourish with far less( or no) oversight than the regulated cannabis industry. The recent spending-bill amendment limits the sale of such products amid growing concern that they bypass consumer protections, taxes, and state licensing.
What this means, among other things, is that on or about November 11, 2026, the new law bans the sale of“ any final hempderived cannabinoid products containing … greater than 0.4 milligrams combined total” of THC or“ any other cannabinoids that have similar effects( or are marketed to have similar effects).” The. 4mg THC limit
6 December 2025
From
The
Editor
Bill Cromwell, Editor-in-Chief
Tis’ The Holiday Season
Continued on page 33 ►
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