Happy New Year! Patients may now purchase as Consumers.
Happy New Year! Patients may now purchase as Consumers.
Department of Health and Senior Services has consistently made one overarching sentiment clear: Patients are the department’ s North Star.
If we heard former DCR Director Lyndall Fraker utter that phrase once, we heard it a hundred times. Thankfully, the motto has been far more than just a slogan. DCR has taken this charge seriously and produced one of the absolute best programs in the entire country for medical cannabis patients.
We write today [ April, 2025 ] because we believe a DCR policy may be inadvertently disenfranchising medical cannabis patients in Missouri when it comes to purchasing power. A recent FAQ added to the DCR website asks:
“ Can I purchase as a patient and as a consumer” and concludes that“ patient ID card holders are not allowed to purchase as a consumer.”
The net result of this new policy is that adult use consumers are now able to purchase more cannabis each month than medical marijuana patients, contrary to the Missouri Constitution in our view. In fact, at almost every turn in Chapter 14 of the Constitution, if there is a discrepancy between the rights and privileges of adult use consumers to medical marijuana patients, the patients are given more rights. For example, Missouri voters granted more employment protections, lower tax rates and higher possession limits to patients than adult use consumers enjoy.
Therefore, we believe that DCR’ s interpretation that a Missourian must either be an adult use consumer or a medical patient is neither good public policy nor a constitutionally sound interpretation. This is not an either-or proposition. A Missourian can be a medical patient AND an adult use consumer. These things are not mutually exclusive. Section 1 gives medical patients the lawful right to access medical cannabis and Section 2 gives adult use consumers the right to access adult use cannabis.
Missouri’ s Constitution guarantees the right for any adult over 21 to purchase and use marijuana recreationally. This right applies to all adults, including medical patients. We respectfully ask that DCR return to their original interpretation, which we believe is supported both by the constitution and by good public policy that ensures patients remain our North Star.
( DHSS revised) FAQ: As a qualifying patient over the age of 21, can I choose to purchase marijuana as a patient and also purchase marijuana as a consumer?
State law does not explicitly address the question of whether an individual may choose to purchase marijuana as a consumer once they have been approved as a patient and assigned a purchase and possession limit according to that status. However, the law is clear that individuals may not exceed purchase limitations by combining patient and consumer purchases. Importantly, patients should be aware of the possession limits applicable to them as a patient. Possessing more than the patient’ s legal limit can result in fines, loss of patient card, and / or criminal charges. Additionally, dispensary licensees are required to report to the department if they observe an individual exceeding their purchase or possession limits.
For clarity; prior to the 12 / 10 / 25 change, a patient ID card holder was not allowed to purchase as a consumer. Additionally, when a patient’ s monthly purchase limit of up to six ounces of dried, processed marijuana or its equivalent within a 30-day period was reached, they could not buy more that month. Now, if a patient ID card holder finds that six ounces within a 30-day period does not suit their needs, they may choose to purchase as an adult-use( consumer) up to three ounces in a single transaction( per day) with no monthly purchase limits. However, remember that adult-use consumers do pay a higher tax rate per transaction.
Learn more about possession limits and more FAQs at https:// health. mo. gov / safety / cannabis / faqs-patient. php # limits.
Sincerely, Andrew Mullins MoCannTrade Executive Director.
Thankfully, because Missouri’ s activist organizations, constitutional language creators, the cannabis industry’ s trade association, and Missouri’ s MMJ patients all agree on this issue facing MMJ patients, DHSS listened, changed the policy on 12 / 10 / 25, and updated its following FAQ in favor of penitents. DHSS will now allow patients in Missouri to assert their right to also access adult-use( consumer) marijuana. The revision also puts the responsibility of observing the cannabis possession limits back on these dual customers, not on the dispensary.
Blue, Springs, MO.
If we can all come together to create change like MMJ patient access, then we can do the same for any of Missouri’ s MMJ patients who are on probation. We will continue to cover these and other issues in future editions.
Source: 1. https:// www. aclu-mo. org / en / news / missouri-aclu-sues-state-violatingconstitutional-right-marijuana
January 2026 25