Long lines on first day of recreational sales

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The first day of legal recreational marijuana sales in Missouri brought long lines outside dispensaries, crowded lobbies and some sheepish grins while customers waited to buy up to 3 ounces of a substance that was illegal to possess just a few months earlier.

State regulators had to either approve or deny the applications that would allow medical dispensaries to start selling to any person older than 21.

That meant both customers and dispensaries were pleasantly surprised when the state announced they’d start approving the first applications on Friday.

For customers like Tony Janssens, it means not having to hide anymore.

“Just being able to do it, not having to look over your shoulder and nothing like that,” Janssens said. “More people, I feel like, would gear towards this instead of going into a liquor store on Friday and Saturday nights.”

Janssens knows his way around cannabis from his time as a medical patient in Oklahoma and California. He said other places where he’s lived have benefitted from the extra tax revenue that comes in.

Missouri will get 6% of every recreational sale, and individual cities can opt to take another 3% on top of that.

“So I’m excited to see the growth for Kansas City and see what it does for Kansas…