BEHIND THE SCENES: The Life Cycle of a Medical Marijuana Plant in Missouri

What’s the point of a dispensary without product?  While we love the idea of a community meeting place for cannabis connoisseurs old and new, we could not justify opening prior to product availability and see the disappointment on excited patient faces when they realize that we do not have what they want – quality, safe cannabis products.  So began the search.  One of the biggest hurdles to opening a dispensary in a new market is planning your dispensary build with fingers crossed that suppliers will have something to sell you when it is all said and done, and the process to create safe, quality products certainly is a process.  We are so excited to open and provide our patients with quality medical marijuana, and want to share with you a look behind the scenes at the journey cannabis products take to get to the Riverside Wellness shelves and online menus.

“The process of growing cannabis followed by proper curing and trimming typically takes 3-5 months.”

First, cultivations need to build out and pass state inspections, after which they get medical marijuana planted as soon as possible.  Growing high quality retail grade marijuana takes work.  Cannabis harvests are made and destroyed dependent on a grower’s understanding of the appropriate nutrient applications, adequate ventilation and optimal light cycles as well as the right space and equipment to meet growing requirements.  Anyone can grow marijuana but it takes specialized knowledge to grow quality, safe medical marijuana for retail sale in a legal market that includes consumer protections.  Caring for a cannabis plant at the right time, in the right way is a delicate dance that requires constant attention and adjustment.  The process of growing cannabis followed by proper curing and trimming typically takes 3-5 months. 

Once grown, cannabis has to pass the second stage of development – analytical lab testing to acquire consumer information and prove each harvest is safe for public consumption.  Cannabis flower cannot legally leave a cultivation facility, except to a testing facility until it has passed all state required public health testing.  Subsequently, any change in form, for example extracting cannabinoids for a vape pen is beholden to the same hold and test requirements. At Riverside Wellness, we believe this is one of the biggest benefits of a legal cannabis market, providing both consumer information to our patients about the medical marijuana they are using as well as the assurance that medical marijuana products are safe to ingest.  The products that patients use  require testing for potency, microbial contamination, residual solvents, chemical residuals, heavy metals and moisture content at least once, if not several times as the products change from flower to concentrates to edibles and more. Only after passing state mandated testing, can marijuana be transferred to either a dispensary to sell to patients or a manufacturing facility to create concentrates, edibles and topicals.  

“Using a variety of tried and true recipes & processes from product development phases, manufacturers will produce a wide variety of products that differ in dosage, method of consumption, form and flavor.”

Many cultivations will sell portions of their crops and trim (small leftover pieces of cannabis that have been “trimmed” off of a clump of cannabis to leave only the highest quality and potent buds for retail sale) to manufacturers for use in making  concentrates and vapes, as well as infused edibles and topicals.  Using a variety of tried and true recipes & processes from product development phases, manufacturers will produce a wide variety of products that differ in dosage, method of consumption, form and flavor.  Luckily, many Missouri manufacturers are working with brands from established markets, so product development has already occurred, recipes are in place and the turn around for initial product lineups will be minimal compared to the time it takes for a cultivation’s first harvest.  If a manufacturer has already established a relationship with a cultivation to purchase medical marijuana flower and completed product development phases, it is as simple as following a recipe to extract cannabinoids into concentrates and/or infuse them into edibles and topicals.  Following a final round of analytical testing of finished products at a state certified lab, manufacturers are able to label, package, and transfer infused and concentrated products to licensed Missouri medical marijuana dispensaries like Riverside Wellness.

“It is only after a series of careful product development, creation & lab testing that the safe, quality products we crave are available to us and our patients.”

And that’s where we come in.  It is only after a series of careful product development, creation & lab testing that the safe, quality products we crave are available to us and our patients.  The most common question we get from the patients we seek to serve is when will we open and when will a wide range of available products be available.  As many people can attest, the availability of products in established markets is tantalizing.  Chocolates and gummies are just the start.  Different flower strains, edibles and concentrates ranging from shatter to wax to live resin and more create different experiences that individual users will find complement their own individual biology and lifestyles. 

We cannot wait for our clients to come in for a favorite strain, edible or concentrate or to explore new and exciting products from the wide variety of suppliers across Missouri.  Our team cannot wait to pick and choose only the best available products for our patients, and I promise you the manufacturers and cultivations we contact can’t wait to be able to make them.  Everyone behind the scenes in the cannabis industry is so excited to serve the Missouri medical marijuana community.  Riverside Wellness and our partners are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this burgeoning industry as we seek to fulfill the needs of the cannabis consumer and community.  If you are willing to hang in there with us while we learn, grow and change in this new industry, we promise to do our best every day to listen, hear you, and work diligently to create the dispensary you want and voted for!