Since adult-use cannabis passed in Missouri in 2022, the state recently divided $15 million in adult-use sales revenue to fund support services for military veterans and substance abuse treatment programs, as well as the Missouri Public Defenders budget. That amount is projected to increase to $19 million by the time the fiscal year ends on July 1.

Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) director Amy Moore recently said that she was pleased with the fund accumulation so far. “It is so rewarding to see the impact of this voter-approved program on organizations that provide vital services to Missourians. We look forward to watching this impact grow and are grateful to be a part of it.” Moore said.

The collection of medical and adult-use cannabis revenue in Missouri differs slightly once operational costs have been paid. The constitutional amendment that legalized medical cannabis five years ago goes directly to the MVC, whereas adult-use cannabis revenue must first pay out any fees relating to cannabis offense expungement, and the leftover amounts are divided up among the three beneficiaries.

These three groups include the Missouri Veterans Commission (MVC), Missouri State Public Defender, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The MVC is described as a health care and “other services” group that serves both veterans as well as their families, while the Public Defender is a legal option for low-income Missourians. The DHSS’s goal is “to operate a grant program for subrecipients to increase access to evidence-based, low-barrier drug addiction treatment prioritizing medically proven treatment and overdose prevention and reversal methods and public or private treatment options with an emphasis on reintegrating recipients into their local communities, to support overdose prevention education, and to support job placement, housing, and counseling for those with substance use disorders.” This includes maintenance of veterans’ homes and various cemeteries. 

The most recent transfer to these groups on May 17 included a total of $15,229,302 split three ways, with each beneficiary receiving $5,076,434.

In January 2024, Moore gave a presentation in front of the House Veterans Committee showing that the MVC will receive a total of $19 million from cannabis sales revenue by the time that the fiscal year ends on July 1. Furthermore, Moore estimated that next year that amount will increase to approximately $22 million. “The governor’s recommendation is quite a bit more than expected and that is tied to the unexpectedly robust sales, mostly on the adult-use side,” Moore said. 

At the time, Moore’s data showed that Missouri had collected $98,873,147 in medical cannabis revenue ($41,406,336 of which went to DCR operating expenses and $39,978,820 to veterans). The state had also collected a total of $57,743,824 in adult-use revenue so far (split between $8,152,210 for DCR operating expenses, in addition to the three sets of beneficiaries receiving $1,278,973).

The MVC has received a grand total of $39,978,820 in medical cannabis sales revenue funds since the transfer began in September 2020. During that first year, the MVC received $2,135,510, followed by $6,843,310 in September 2021, $5 million in May 2022, $13 million in September 2022, and finally $13 million in October 2023.

Rep. Dave Griffith, who is also the veterans chair committee, commented on the success of legalization so far. “The amount of sales that they’ve had with commercial marijuana has been just record-breaking and exceeded all expectations and projections,” Griffith said. “Because of that, there’s going to be even more money into that pool than what they projected right after [Amendment 3] passed.” Griffith also commented that his goal is to increase the amount of funds given to the MVC to $50 million annually, citing the need for more money to better serve veterans services. “Many of them, they’re so overburdened with their caseloads that it’s hard to get in with them,” said Griffith. “If we can increase the number we have, we can start trying to cut down on that wait time many veterans have.”

During the most recent round of funds transferred, Moore released a statement in October 2023 about the positive growth coming from the adult-use cannabis market. “It is incredible that Missouri voters passed the adult use amendment less than one year ago, and we are now starting to see the financial impact the program’s success will have on multiple organizations and the Missourians they serve,” Moore said.

At the time, MVC executive director Paul Kirchoff also provided a statement about the benefits of the program. “These funds will help MVC continue to support the existing infrastructure of our seven Veterans Homes,” said Kirchoff.

While legal cannabis continues to serve Missouri, the topic of psilocybin continues to evolve. In March, the Missouri House Veterans Committee recently passed a psilocybin legalization bill (Senate Bill 768) which if passed would allow veterans to use psilocybin therapy. 

In April, the Missouri House of Representatives approved a budget bill that sets aside $10 million in psilocybin research grants, which would come from the state opioid settlement funds. The research studies would study how psilocybin affects people with opioid abuse disorder.

Originally this also included the research of ibogaine for treating the disorder but was changed to focus on psilocybin instead. According to Rep. Cody Smith who introduced that budget bill, the switch from ibogaine to psilocybin was due to a discussion he had with the Department of Mental Health the week prior. “They had concerns about the ibogaine research they had read, and there are concerns about the dangers involved in that research,” said Smith. “However, they are interested in the psilocybin piece. And we’ve seen many other states use their opioid settlement funds to that end.”

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In the opening verse of The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album, Taylor Swift sings that she was a functioning alcoholic until nobody noticed her new aesthetic. 

They do now. 

In the album, a sprawling 31 tracks (that’s her signature 13 backward), Swift is the most unmasked (and turned on) she’s ever been. She’s done impressing the “wine moms” (even if the blood of fermented fruit is her drug of choice). Sung in a low register, the first 16 songs of TPD are primarily dark, twinkling synthy pop tunes, primarily written with long-term collaborator Jack Antonoff, with help from Aaron Dessner of The National. Dessner, whose Swift collabs are more of the folk music, indie variety, primarily encompass the latter half of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, a surprise bonus album dropped shortly after listeners finished streaming the original album at midnight (shout out to everyone else who got a notification from Spotify that they were in the first ten percent of streams). 

TPD racked up 891 million streams in its first week in the United States, setting a new record that surpasses the previous high of 746 million streams, achieved by Drake’s 25-track Scorpion in 2018. 

On the title track, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift sings about a love interest who “smoked and ate seven bars of chocolate.” Despite acknowledging that this person isn’t Dylan Thomas, and she isn’t Patti Smith (“This ain’t the Chelsea hotel, we’re modern idiots”), Swift is unabashedly captivated, which is why it’s so heartbreaking when deeper into the anthology side of the album, she’s realizing that this person needed her but needed drugs more.  

If the tabloids are to be believed, the “tattooed golden retriever” in question is the problematic charismatic Matty Healy of The 1975, who’s openly discussed seeking treatment for a heroin addiction. On “The Alchemy,” she finds a new lover who is into heroin, but this time, with an “e,” (heroine). It’s easy to simply say that she’s singing about drugs on TPD because she was linked to Healy in 2023 when it was primarily written, but looking to tabloid reports on her dating history to explain songwriting decisions is so tired. And, plus, while their recent “situationship” is captivating TikTok, the pair have at least known each other and supported one another’s work for a decade. 

So why is Swift getting so real and singing about the munchies and balancing love and addiction now? Is it that cannabis, set to be declassified, isn’t as shocking as it was when she was first involved with bad boys? No. 

It’s actually not the first time she’s covered substance use disorders; 2020’s “This Is Me Trying,” as discussed in Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, is about exactly that. Just no one noticed her new aesthetic! And now she’s totally out of fucks, even if she’s dropping the f-bomb more regularly than ever before. It’s not just drugs. TPD is not just love song after love song about an ex, as many reviews would have you believe. There’s line after line dissecting religion. She’s critical of her seemingly picture-perfect family, perhaps most shockingly, and even her fans. 

She’s levitating down the street in “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” like some vampire defanged to perform in the circus (The internet wants to know: Is she beefing with Olivia Rodrigo? What about the diss track allegedly about Kim Kardashian? You fools, if anything, she’s drumming up drama for Reputation: Taylor’s Version!). She’s very horny on “Guilty As Sin?” which continues the album’s investigation into sex and religion. She’s watching American Pie on the garage rock “So High School.” Post Malone contributes smokey vocals on “Fortnight,” and in the video, we get to see what Swift looks like with face tats. The whole thing is honestly a stoner’s delight. And it’s definitely an album for people in their 30s. On “Florida!!!” featuring Florence Welch, which is basically about escaping to the state to dispose of bodies, those that have been on top of you, Swift is observing that her friends “all smell like weed or little babies,” and on the gorgeous “Robin” she’s begging a lover to take her higher and higher while cackling “you look ridiculous,” like she’s Alabama from True Romance in the scene where she kills James Gandolfini with the help of hair spray. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is pop perfection, and Swift singing about crying a lot while remaining productive is as on-brand as it gets. This song will definitely be performed at the remaining 2024 Eras tour dates. 

Plus, we get to hear Swift sing the word “daddy” again. The stuff about the exes is largely interesting for Easter Eggs-obsessed fans (The Tortured Poets Department came out on April 19, the day before 4/20, but also the date that, in 1775, the Revolutionary War began as America declared its intentions to leave Britain, and both Healy and her ex of six years who apparently wanted to de-jewel her, are British). The track “So Long London” brings Miss Americana back home. What’s next, the critics and fans want to know. After seeing a video on IG of her singing along to Garth Brooks’s iconic “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” at a football game, I’m personally crossing my fingers that, as the country genre has become surprisingly cool in recent years, thanks to stars like Kacey Musgraves, who often sings about cannabis, as well, of course, as Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Swift collaborator Lana Del Rey’s forthcoming country album, Lasso, that Tay Tay will go back to her Tim McGraw lovin’ roots, and we’ll eventually get another country album. 13/10 stars for The Tortured Poets Department. 

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Legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis, as well as an increase in retail sales in Canada and the U.S. did not lead to an overall increase in teen substance abuse, a team of researchers found. They also found that adult-use legislation led to a “modest decrease” in teen alcohol and e-cigarette use.

The research was led by co-principal investigators Lynch School of Education and Human Development professor Rebekah Levine Coley, School of Social Work Professor Summer Sherburne Hawkins, and Economics Department Chair Christopher F. Baum. They believe they are among the first to evaluate associations between adult-use cannabis legislation and recreational cannabis retail sales through 2021, and teen substance abuse. Naoka Carey, a doctoral candidate in the Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology department of the Lynch School, as well as Claudia Kruzik, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland-College Park, also contributed to the study.

The cross-sectional study is entitled “Recreational Cannabis Legalization, Retail Sales, and Adolescent Substance Use Through 2021,” and was published online and in JAMA Pediatrics on April 15. Researchers used survey datasets to evaluate adult-use cannabis legalization and retail sales policies, as well as adolescent substance use through 2021.

Adult-use cannabis legalization was associated with modest decreases in cannabis, alcohol, and e-cigarette use, while retail sales were associated with lower e-cigarette use, and a lower likelihood, but also increased frequency of cannabis use among youth consumers, essentially canceling out and leading to “no overall change in cannabis use.”

They found no evidence suggesting otherwise, as the dust settles from 24 states and Washington, D.C. enacting adult-use cannabis legislation, and 18 states implementing adult-use cannabis sales.

The Findings Show Effects of Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization

Researchers wanted to sort through perceived effects of cannabis legalization to determine if it indeed leads to an increase in substance abuse, but didn’t find a link. 

 “Although studies of early-enacting states and Canada reported few effects of recreational cannabis legislation on adolescent substance abuse, experts have highlighted the need to further assess policy outcomes in youth as legislation and retail availability spread, and other policies targeting youth substance use shift,” the authors said. “We found limited associations between recreational cannabis legalization and retail sales with adolescent substance use, extending previous findings.”

Overall however, since findings were mixed, with data showing a lower likelihood of cannabis use despite increased frequency, it shows no increase in teen substance use. They also arrived at other conclusions regarding adult-use cannabis’s impact on alcohol use, and e-cigarette use that are worth noting.

“According to the researchers,” an April 18 announcement reads, “recreational cannabis legalization was associated with modest decreases in cannabis, alcohol, and e-cigarette use, while retail sales were associated with lower e-cigarette use, and a lower likelihood, but also increased frequency of cannabis use among youth consumers, leading to no overall change in cannabis use.”

The findings show that there wasn’t a substantial increase in teen substance use overall.

“The results suggest that legalization and greater control over cannabis markets have not facilitated adolescents’ entry into substance use,” noted the study co-authors.

Other Studies Show No Link Between Adult-Use Cannabis and 

The study aligns for the most part with previous data showing no link between legalization and increased drug abuse. A previous study also found an increase in cannabis use but lower rates of alcohol abuse, with no overall increase in substance abuse disorders.

Researchers published a study, “Recreational cannabis legalization has had limited effects on a wide range of adult psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes,” via  Cambridge University Press on Jan. 5. In it, researchers sought to “quantify possible causal effects of recreational cannabis legalization on substance use, substance use disorder, and psychosocial functioning, and whether vulnerable individuals are more susceptible to the effects of cannabis legalization than others.”

Living in a legal state was “not associated” with substance abuse disorders, although they found it led to higher pot use but lower alcohol use. Living in a legal state was associated, in fact, with lower alcohol use disorder (AUD) rates.

“In the co-twin control design accounting for earlier cannabis frequency and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms respectively, the twin living in a recreational state used cannabis on average more often, and had fewer AUD symptoms than their co-twin living in an non-recreational state. Cannabis legalization was associated with no other adverse outcome in the co-twin design, including cannabis use disorder. No risk factor significantly interacted with legalization status to predict any outcome.”

The findings mount as experts determine the impact of adult-use cannabis policy, laws, and retail sales on public health in multiple states.

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