Posted on Jun 4, 2023
Where does the revenue from Missouri marijuana sales and license fees go?
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The laws require profits from the sale of marijuana first go to pay for operational costs — salaries and professional attorney services. After that, revenues will go to veterans, public defenders and drug treatment.
Since Missouri’s marijuana sales began in 2019, the state has collected nearly $100 million in revenue from taxes and program fees, according to state authorities.
Etched in the state’s constitution is a road map for where the revenue can go.
The first stop is operational costs. By law, any expense it takes to run both medical and recreational marijuana programs — like salaries or professional services — all must be paid for through marijuana revenues.
That means the salaries for cannabis inspectors will never compete with that of school teachers, which come out of the state’s main pot of money, the general revenue fund.
Since Missouri’s marijuana sales began in 2019, the state has collected nearly $100 million in revenue from taxes and program fees, according to state authorities.
Etched in the state’s constitution is a road map for where the revenue can go.
The first stop is operational costs. By law, any expense it takes to run both medical and recreational marijuana programs — like salaries or professional services — all must be paid for through marijuana revenues.
That means the salaries for cannabis inspectors will never compete with that of school teachers, which come out of the state’s main pot of money, the general revenue fund.
Where does the revenue from Missouri marijuana sales and license fees go?
Posted from kcur.org
Marijuana
Taxes
Posted 11 mo ago
Responses: 2
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dang Brother William that's interesting for sure: PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Adult use revenues and costs
The revenue road map is a bit different for the adult-use recreational marijuana program, and it’s defined in Amendment 3 that was approved by voters in November.
By law, direct revenues first go towards operational costs and then to expenses incurred by the court system for expunging certain marijuana offenses from people’s criminal records.
After that, revenues will be split in three ways: Public defenders, drug addiction treatment and veterans.
Since recreational marijuana sales opened in February, the revenue collected is already at $13.8 million, and almost all is from sales taxes, according to DHSS.
Marijuana monthly sales in Missouri have tripled since February, but so has the workload for DHSS.
For the past two years, DHSS has had 50 full-time employees to regulate the medical marijuana program.
The total employees will now be just over 170 employees — 23 for medical marijuana and 148 for recreational, Cox told The Independent.
Between the medical and recreational program, lawmakers appropriated about $32 million for operational expenses. That’s a little more than double what it’s appropriated in past years.
However, DHSS has yet to ever use the full appropriated amount, though there was plenty in the fund to cover it, according to budget documents.
In the fiscal year 2020, lawmakers appropriated $13.5 million for DHSS’ personal services, expenses and equipment. But the department only spent $6.3 million.
In fiscal year 2021, DHSS was appropriated $13.5 million and spent $9.4 million.
In fiscal year 2022, DHSS was appropriated $13.8 million and spent $8.4 million.
The department also spent about $5 million for employee benefits, which are not included in DHSS’ appropriation but in a separate part of the state budget.
Cox said it’s taken some time to understand what the annual cost of running the program will be.
“It is likely to be two to three more years before we reach operational stability in both programs under the new law,” she said, “and can more closely match appropriations with anticipated expenses.”
This year lawmakers signed off on $4.5 million for state courts to pay their employees overtime or to hire temp workers to complete the massive number of expungements required by law. They approved an additional $2.5 million in a supplemental budget on May 5.
After that, $1.3 million was appropriated for each public defenders, treatment programs and veterans.
And out of the medical revenues, $13 million will go towards the Veterans Commission again this year, as it did last year."
..."Adult use revenues and costs
The revenue road map is a bit different for the adult-use recreational marijuana program, and it’s defined in Amendment 3 that was approved by voters in November.
By law, direct revenues first go towards operational costs and then to expenses incurred by the court system for expunging certain marijuana offenses from people’s criminal records.
After that, revenues will be split in three ways: Public defenders, drug addiction treatment and veterans.
Since recreational marijuana sales opened in February, the revenue collected is already at $13.8 million, and almost all is from sales taxes, according to DHSS.
Marijuana monthly sales in Missouri have tripled since February, but so has the workload for DHSS.
For the past two years, DHSS has had 50 full-time employees to regulate the medical marijuana program.
The total employees will now be just over 170 employees — 23 for medical marijuana and 148 for recreational, Cox told The Independent.
Between the medical and recreational program, lawmakers appropriated about $32 million for operational expenses. That’s a little more than double what it’s appropriated in past years.
However, DHSS has yet to ever use the full appropriated amount, though there was plenty in the fund to cover it, according to budget documents.
In the fiscal year 2020, lawmakers appropriated $13.5 million for DHSS’ personal services, expenses and equipment. But the department only spent $6.3 million.
In fiscal year 2021, DHSS was appropriated $13.5 million and spent $9.4 million.
In fiscal year 2022, DHSS was appropriated $13.8 million and spent $8.4 million.
The department also spent about $5 million for employee benefits, which are not included in DHSS’ appropriation but in a separate part of the state budget.
Cox said it’s taken some time to understand what the annual cost of running the program will be.
“It is likely to be two to three more years before we reach operational stability in both programs under the new law,” she said, “and can more closely match appropriations with anticipated expenses.”
This year lawmakers signed off on $4.5 million for state courts to pay their employees overtime or to hire temp workers to complete the massive number of expungements required by law. They approved an additional $2.5 million in a supplemental budget on May 5.
After that, $1.3 million was appropriated for each public defenders, treatment programs and veterans.
And out of the medical revenues, $13 million will go towards the Veterans Commission again this year, as it did last year."
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