NewsLocal News

Actions

Green rush: Cannabis advocates hope to make money as laws ease in Missouri, perhaps Kansas

Posted at 9:15 PM, Dec 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-02 22:15:03-05

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cannabis supporters call it the “green rush” as interest among farmers to plant hemp, which is a close cousin of marijuana, continues to increase.

Several thousand people showed up to a packed KCI Expo Center to learn about growing and harvesting cannabis and hemp.

“I’m very interested in having a distributorship and growing some medical marijuana and some hemp,” said Todd Leonard, who owns a bar in St. Joesph, Missouri.

Leonard said he wants to help sick people, whose symptoms could be mitigated by medical marijuuana.

"I see a lot of old people and I don’t want to see them suffer,” he said.

Leonard attended the Cannabis Education & Business Start Up event to network with others of a similar mind.

“I know I kind of want to get in with a small business and kind of make it the Amazon of whatever weed,” said Aspen Sennewald, a student at Mizzou.

Sennewald hopes to get her foot in the door of a growing industry — no pun intended.

"It’s really hard to enter an industry that is so taboo and awkward to talk about," Sennewald said.

During a recent legislative session, both Missouri and Kansas passed hemp laws. Missouri has a 2,000-acre cap, but there's no cap in Kansas. 

"There’s hundreds of millions of dollars being deployed in Kansas right now," said Mike Arnold, a large-scale cannabis operator originally from Parkville, Missouri, who now lives in Oregon. 

Arnold said about 20 acres can produce more than $800,000 in revenue. 

"If they’re not growing cannabis or hemp in their field, their neighbors are getting very wealthy," Arnold said. 

Missouri voters took it a step further last month by approving Amendment 2, which will legalize medical marijuana in the state and allow registered caregivers to grow up to six plants. It imposes a 4-percent tax on marijuana sales. 

Medical marijuana remains illegal in Kansas, but the state's governor-elect, Laura Kelly, said she is in favor of some form of medical marijuana.

"I think there’s a little more influence from the governor of the legislature taking up cannabis reform a priority," said Eapen Thampy, a marijuana and hemp lobbyist. 

Event organizers plan more of these learning events as interest continues to build in the region.