Where does the revenue from Missouri marijuana sales and license fees go?

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.