Two American sisters lean against the counter of a trendy store, smelling and swaying cannabis buds. Juree Burgett and Tanya Knight drove three hours across the Kansas-Missouri border to buy cash, which is illegal at home.
• Also read: French receive kilos of cannabis from Canada
“They’re not going to legalize it in Kansas, even for medical purposes,” frets coward Juree, 64, a denim jacket slung over her broad shoulders. Located in a seedy area of Kansas City, this drive-through dispensary is a five-minute freeway ride from the border with Missouri, a conservative state that just legalized recreational cannabis.
The measure, passed by referendum in November, sparked an economic boom in these agricultural plains in the center of the United States, fueled by these thousands of consumers from the eight contiguous states.
Shopping at this very legal store “is easier than picking it up from a local store around the corner,” Juree explains, and his accomplice Tanya agrees. She leaves with chewing gum containing THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. A common product in this country where half of the 50 states have decriminalized marijuana in one form or another.
Tanya was a pastry chef, Juree a nutritionist, both retired. Before reform in Missouri, Tanya and Juree fled Kansas for two days, an eight-hour one-way drive, to get to Colorado, a border state.
The trip “cost us quite a bit of money, almost as much as a prospective one. And now we only have three hours to drive,” says Tanya, a small package in her hand and a smile. In the face of osteoarthritis and depression, “it’s really good for you. Really. »
Photo Brendan Smialowski / AFP
drops
With seven of the eight neighboring states banning recreational cannabis, these out-of-town customers are the company’s golden hen. For this one from the Proper Cannabis company, they make up more than half of his clientele.
“We’re surrounded by so many states, they’re coming straight from everywhere, it’s crazy! “, confirms Chris Brown at the counter, who served the two sisters with his colorful hat and long hair. Findings: Across Missouri, cannabis sales in February, the first month that recreational cannabis was legal, totaled $103 million, up from $37.2 million in January.
“We were blown away by it,” recalled Jack Cardetti, spokesman for MoCannTrade, the trade organization that forecasts a local market worth more than $1.2 billion over a year.
20 minutes from the store, between frozen fields and huge logistics platforms, an anonymous hangar. Behind cameras and a security post stretch nearly 2,800 square meters of cannabis plants. The air is filled with such a recognizable scent.
Louie Sebald, fine mustache and hoodie, is orchestrating a climb there: Within three weeks, this Illicit Gardens industrial farm will be producing at full capacity, or 680 kg of flowers per month.
Neither sun nor rain here, but a ceiling of LED lamps, drippers and sensors everywhere. Green lights illuminate the aisles and dryers of this marijuana factory, a gigantic money-making machine designed to follow the growth of the market.
Photo Brendan Smialowski / AFP
pre-rolled
The builder gives his production cost: $400 per pound (450 g). Resale price: $2,300 per pound. “Do the math, that’s a margin of almost $2,000 per book,” says the young manager happily.
Next to him, the shoots undergo an accelerated spring-summer-autumn cycle in 77 days. In the hallway, Shastyn Ketterman, a worker, prepares the barcode labels that are attached to each plant.
Mr. Sebald, 35, multiplies job interviews. It needs to increase its workforce from 130 to almost 170 people, making it three to eight. In the state, 13,000 people work in this sector, mostly in rural areas where industrial and agricultural jobs are disappearing.
This isn’t a fresh start: Missouri has been legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes for more than two years. And on the success of that program – local jobs, no problems identified – the campaign for fall 2022 legalization was based. It won the majority (53%) in a state that is nonetheless right-wing.
Under the green light of the marijuana factory, an employee is busy turning over the THC-laden flowers. We’re packing in the room opposite. Cannabis buds are processed and packaged directly here. A machine also prepares pre-rolled joints, which sell like hot cakes.
“We’re going to buy one and quit smoking,” Tanya continues at a Kansas City park, “and then we’re going home.” His sister continues happily: “It takes three hours for us! »