Cannabis consumption lounges considered for Kansas City, Mo

Marijuana consumption lounges may be coming to Kansas City, Missouri.

City officials are currently drafting rules, subject to City Council approval, that would legalize on-site cannabis consumption for the first time in Missouri’s biggest city, according to The Kansas City Star.

State voters legalized adult-use marijuana statewide in 2022 but left it up to cities and counties to regulate cannabis lounges.

Lounges are proving popular in other locales such as St. Louis, where patrons can also be served THC-infused beverages.

Under the rules considered in Kansas City, lounges would not be allowed to be co-located with cannabis retail or another licensed marijuana business.

They would also be:

• Treated like a tavern or night club in terms of where they can be located.
• Required to maintain a certain distance from schools, day cares and churches.

The proposal is geared toward giving small businesses and minority owners a way to participate in the state’s legal marijuana industry, Councilmember Wes Rogers told the Kansas City Star.

There’s no timeline as to when the rules might be approved and lounges given permission to apply for licensing.

More regulations to boost social equity

Separately, Missouri cannabis regulators are working on new rules to boost the state’s social equity program and crack down on hemp-derived THC products.

Under the proposed rules, the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) would:

• Be allowed to revoke or deny permits to entities who lost a prior permit for breaking state law.
• Clarify rules around social equity microbusinesses to discourage abuse by out-of-state interests.
• Clarify the recall procedure for “cannabis product that cannot be properly traced back” to a licensed in-state cultivator.

Regulators have revoked dozens of microbusiness licenses intended for social-equity applicants after discovering they were not majority-owned by eligible individuals.

Missouri cannabis sales see steady growth

The changes will affect a state market that’s considered by many industry observers to be a success story.

Missouri’s cannabis market has shown steady growth since sales launched in Feb. 2023, according to Seattle-based cannabis data and analytics company Headset.

Sales increased 3.2% year over year as of August 2025, reaching about $130.22 million for the month.

Annual sales could reach $1.66 billion in 2025, according to an MJBiz Factbook projection.

The market is expected to eclipse $4 billion in total sales since the market’s launch by this fall.