Feature Story
Missouri’ s MMJ Patients Face Two Major Hurdles This Year—
One, Recently Overcome by Clayton Stallings, contributing writer
Happy New Year! I want to start this year by reminding our readers of the two biggest issues Missouri’ s marijuana patients faced last year, and the one we will continue to face this year.
First, can Missouri medical cannabis patients consume cannabis while they are on probation?
Some jurisdictions in Missouri allow it, such as Kansas City, while many others do not. In a case in Cole County, MO, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri( ACLU-MO) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sharon Stewart against the State of Missouri, the prosecuting attorney in Stewart’ s case, and the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole in the Circuit Court of Cole County in Jefferson City for using probationary terms to violate her constitutional right to use medical marijuana prescribed by her physician. The plaintiff seeks injunctive and declaratory relief to prevent the state from penalizing her and denying probationers their constitutional right to access prescribed medical treatment, as well as the right to be free from probation violations related to any use of marijuana. 1
The first court case was held December 10, 2025. You can turn to page 40 to learn more about that case from attorney Dan Viets; however, the outcome will be determined by the Missouri Supreme Court in the coming months. We will continue to update you on the outcome.
Next, should Missouri MMJ patients be limited to lower( monthly) purchase limits than recreational consumers?
The original constitutional change or Article XIV, allowing the passage of Medical Marijuana, allowed MMJ patient cardholders to purchase an allotment of up to six ounces per month. When the new language was drafted for“ Adult Use,” it allowed“ adult-users” to purchase up to three ounces per day. That was supposed to apply to medical marijuana patients as well, according to those who drafted the constitutional changes.
The following is a recent press release regarding medical marijuana patients’ purchase limits from attorney Dan Viets of Missouri NORML, who helped draft the language for both original bills.
Missouri Denies Medical Marijuana Patients The Same Rights As Other Cannabis Consumers
Due to a misinterpretation of the Missouri Constitution’ s Article XIV, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Division of Cannabis Regulation, has restricted the ability of medical marijuana patients to purchase and possess cannabis below the amount that all other persons above the age of 21 in Missouri are allowed to purchase.
When Section 1 of Article XIV was passed by Missouri voters back in 2018, it did indeed set a lower purchase amount per medical marijuana patient, only up to six ounces per month. However, when Missouri voters passed Article 14, Section 2 in November of 2022, the Missouri Constitution was amended to allow all persons over the age of 21 to purchase larger amounts of cannabis than the original medical provision did, three ounces per purchase, per day.
Since that law was passed subsequently, it should be seen to override the conflicting provision of Section 1. The great majority of medical marijuana patients are persons over the age of 21. It is absurd to deny them the same rights to purchase and possess cannabis which all other persons over the age of 21 enjoy under Article XIV.
Missouri NORML leaders participated in the drafting of both Section 1 and Section 2 of Article XIV. The intent of the drafters of Article XIV was that patients would be granted the same rights to purchase cannabis as all other persons over the age of 21. Unless the Department of Health and Senior Services changes its interpretation of Article XIV, it may be necessary to ask the Courts of our state to clarify what the law actually means.
It’ s not only our activists’ organizations and constitutional language creators like Viets who spoke out against this unfair interpretation of the constitution for Missouri MMJ patients, but even our cannabis industry association, MoCannTrade, has reached out to DHSS to express its concern about the unfair treatment of Missouri MMJ patients.
MoCannTrade Director Andrew Mullins wrote this letter to DHSS last year on behalf of Missouri’ s medical cannabis cardholders, claiming that its interpretation was unconstitutional.
Since the very first days following the overwhelming support for the passage of medical marijuana in Missouri in 2018, the Missouri
24 January 2026