JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KFVS) – The combined state and local tax revenue generated from cannabis sales in Missouri is projected to reach $238 million in 2024, according to estimates by the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.

For perspective and scale, that’s one million more dollars than what Gov. Mike Parson recommended to fund Missouri’s Departments of Health & Senior Services and Public Safety combined in 2025.

“Honestly, we, we’ve continued to grow,” said Katie West, who manages Missouri Health & Wellness dispensary in Jefferson City. “We see new people every day. We see people come from out of state. We see people come from all over the place and it’s just really exciting. There’s no shortage.”

The association reported total sales of $2.5 billion since the products were first legalized in 2020, resulting in $370 million in state and local revenue. $984.6 million of that total came from medical marijuana sales.

“We think that the Missouri program has really been an example for the country,” said Jack Cardetti, who represents the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association. “A lot of excited people here in Missouri because they’re able, for the first time of the last few years, to get access to safe, legal, compliant marijuana.”

The state’s constitution, in which laws regulating the marijuana industry are written, specifies how the revenue generated by sales is to be spent.

First, funds are used to cover the state costs of regulating the industry itself. Next, funds are required to be used to perform the required expungements of past marijuana convictions of eligible citizens.

Finally, the remaining funds are split three ways: a portion is allocated to the state’s public defender system; another, to drug treatment services; and finally, to the Missouri Veterans Commission.

Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for mid-Missouri’s Callaway and Osage counties until 11 pm (June 13, 2024 graphic courtesy of NWS St. Louis Twitter)

Brian Hauswirth

12 hours ago
KWOS, Mid-Missouri News, post to twitter

Crews from Columbia-based Boone Electric Cooperative are expected to work throughout the night, trying to restore power to a few thousand mid-Missouri residents.

Thursday night’s severe thunderstorms prompted tornado warnings in Boone, Callaway and Audrain counties, along with numerous severe thunderstorm warnings across the entire 939 the Eagle listening area. About 2,500 Boone Electric customers are currently without power, with many of them in the Hallsville, Centralia and Harrisburg areas.

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Wind gusts of up to 70 miles an hour are reported in places, and intense lightning impacted I-70 travelers across mid-Missouri.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Hundreds of power outages were reported in counties in Mid-Missouri on Thursday night as storms went through the area.

A tornado warning was issued for Boone County before 9:30 p.m. It is expected to expire at 9:45 p.m.

There are more than 2,900 customers affected by power outages reported in Boone County, according to the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives and Ameren outage maps. A majority of the outages were reported in Hallsville, Centralia and Harrisburg, according to Boone Electric’s outage map. Boone Electric had 2,493 outages reported at 10:28 p.m. and another 468 were reported for Ameren.

Another 227 were reported in Howard County. There 73 customers were without power in Columbia.

Additionally, Randolph County had 857 outages outages. with 342 Ameren customers were without power and 417 were without power according to the AMEC map. Outages on the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives include Boone Electric Co-op, Howard Electric and Macon Electric.

ABC 17 News reached out to Ameren. Boone Electric Cooperative spokesman Zach Smith said there is no timetable for outages to be resolved, but crews have been dispatched.

A lot of damage was seen in Hallsville by the Boone County Fire Protection District.

Gale Blomenkamp, of the Boone County Fire Protection District, said no injuries have been reported in the storms in Hallsville. The department received 13 phone calls from the Hallsville area, including a tree falling on a house and another tree falling on a vehicle.

Blomenkamp said most of the damage in the area is from the wind. He also said there have been some people driving around to see the damage caused by the storms, and asks for those people to go home while first responders and electricity workers work. He also said it would be safer for residents to view the damage tomorrow during the day.

“Now we’re waiting for the power company to come back in and get the power back on,” Blomenkamp said.

Four calls have appeared from the Columbia Fire and Rescue online dispatch records from 9:33-9:40 p.m. All of those calls were for the Boone County Fire Protection District. Two of those calls were for electrical hazards.

A tornado warning was issued for Chariton, Randolph and Macon counties that expired at 8 p.m. A second warning was issued for Chariton and Randolph counties that expired at 8:30 p.m.

The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives’ outage map shows 338 Macon Electric Cooperative customers without power in Macon County and another 124 without power in Monroe County. Shelby County had 243 Macon Electric customers without power and another 49 for Missouri Rural Electric Cooperative.

Chariton County had 36 outages reported for Howard Electric customers.

Callaway County was also in a tornado warning. The Fulton Police Department wrote that its basement is open for those who need shelter.

Check back for updates.