MJ Unpacked St. Louis stages glamorous cannabis expo for hashing out Missouri’s future

Photo by Jennifer Korman Photography

From Tuesday, Nov. 5 to Thursday, Nov. 7, St. Louis’ Union Station transformed into a glossy, gaudy gallery of cannabis ornamentation, chocked-full of big wigs within the industry as MJ Unpacked—an exclusive conference for experts within the cannabis industry to network, collaborate, and ultimately spread cannabis knowledge and awareness—was underway.

The three-day event consisted of multiple panels, ranging from topics on retail and branding, science and cultivation, and investment and finance. On top of the panels, the event held an experience hall where a handful of cannabis-centered brands took to try and make connections and deals with others.

The event’s Founder and CEO George Jage said that he and others partaking in the conference consider cannabis as a consumer packaged good (CPG), and that hosting MJ Unpacked is propelling the market into the future.

“I just feel like this is where the industry needs to be moving right now, towards that national CPG market, even though we don’t have a national market,” Jage said. “But, I think we’re gonna see brands in the future—Anheuser-Busch’s and Seagram’s and Marlboro’s of cannabis be born at a show like this.”

From retail cannabis suppliers to companies who specialize in dry-freezing, can manufacturing, and transportable grow racks, the tradeshow had individuals who are taking a stab at each specific artery of the industry.

The Pitch had the opportunity to attend day one and two of MJ Unpacked in St. Louis, where we were able to listen and learn from countless experts of cannabis from all over the nation.

Photo by Joe Ellett

Day One

The event had officially kicked off at 10 a.m. when speakers sat down at their seats for the first panels of the day—‘Successful coexistence between cannabis and hemp industries,‘ ‘A deeper look inside the chemistry of today’s cannabinoids,‘ and ‘Growth trends and drivers: Navigating the U.S. cannabis market.’

The day consisted of twenty panels, ranging from a variety of topics all centered around the market, with some diving deeper into Missouri specifically.

With the ongoing developments in the Missouri hemp and cannabis industries, we chose to listen in on this successful coexistence panel, which was quite possibly the most important and controversial of the entire event.

The panelists were Department of Health and Senior Services Division of Cannabis Director Amy Moore, American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp Director of State Advocacy and Public Policy Chris Lindsey, and Cannabis Beverage Association President Diana Eberlein.

The topic of regulating the hemp market was the first to arise. As seen in the past several months, there is ongoing legislation in MO to combat the loose access to hemp products.

“If we don’t have a regulatory environment, if consumers are not really aware of what’s going on in order to make those products, there’s this false sense of security that, ‘Oh, this is marijuana light.‘ Well, that’s sort of true, but it also has a lot of things in there that maybe you wouldn’t want to put in your body if you knew they were there,“ Lindsey said.

“Groups that aren’t willing to be transparent about their process and what chemicals they’re using to do those conversions are not expecting to be here when we’re regulated,“ Eberlein said. “And, I think that’s ultimately what a lot of us are looking for—sensible regulation to make sure these products are safe for the consumer.”

Lindsey also took concern to the fact that, through research development, new cannabis compounds are continuously popping up, which Moore agreed is a risk to Missouri consumers.

“Certainly, there’s a lot left to be studied in the traditional cannabis market, but the wide range of new things that continue to come out, new compounds that continue to come out in these products that are even hard to identify, much less know what large amounts of consumption of those compounds would do to humans,“ Moore said. “It’s very concerning that we are making those available in large amounts, and just see what happens.”

Regulating the market means that all products in the state will be lab-tested. But testing these products with an overflowing amount of emerging cannabinoids—with no vested research to lean on for safety concerns—is a struggle, considering you must have an understanding of what to test for in order to find it in the product.

“We’re just going to have to have states working very closely together to start pulling together what panels do work, and then working with policymakers to say, ‘Let’s identify the best manufacturing practices so that we can narrow the scope of potential contaminants.‘ Then, we just build our library from there,“ Lindsey said.

“We’re missing a lot of research, but we do have experience, and the testing panels that have developed over the years for state regulation have been fine-tuned,“ Moore said. “They’ve been adjusted over time. We’ve learned hard lessons.”

Eberlein touched on the fact that she and other members of the hemp/cannabis industry are attempting to create a universal symbol—’TICC,‘ which stands for total intoxicating cannabinoid content—that will indicate which products have been lab-tested to specific standards that deem the product safe.

“The AP for THC, where this is essentially is a universal symbol on the packaging that the consumer knows they can look to, just like they would look for the ABV percentage on one of their other adult beverages,“ Eberlein said. “This is something we’re getting behind so that the consumer can have a little bit more comfort and more confidence in purchasing these products at retail. That’s something the everyday consumer who isn’t a cannabis expert would understand.”

Photo by Joe Ellett

Following the hemp and cannabis discussion, we chose to attend the ‘What’s on your shelf & is it safe for consumers?‘ panel. 

The members of this discussion were SC Laboratories Co-Founder and Director of Client Relations Alec Dixon, BeLeaf Medical Co-Founder Mitch Meyers, and Purple Lotus Founder Matt Krishnamachari. 

Much of the conversation during this panel was focused on transparent cannabis testing sites and information, how hemp has burdened what consumers have grown to know about cannabis from licensed facilities, and how the industry as a whole can push forward for additional cleanliness of the product.

What was most interesting about the discussion was the topic of recalls. With thousands of products recalled in the state in August, it is incredibly important for consumers to be aware when recalls are encountered. But what is the best way to do that?

Krishnamachari—who’s dispensary, Purple Lotus, operates in California—touched on how he had to individually call hundreds of customers after they had purchased a product because the recall was issued long after the cannabis cleared shelves.

“It’s a very sticky situation,“ Krishnamachari said. “If you just put up that this was recalled, you can scare people without adding that personalized touch to it. Yeah, it’s tough. I had to call 200-something people who bought the product. It took me a long time, but that’s what I sell—I sell trust.”

Currently, there does not seem to be a requirement in MO for dispensaries or brands to notify individual consumers about product recalls, specifically those who purchased the withdrawn substance. The DHSS posts recall issues and updates on its website; However, both Krishnamachari and Meyers agree that the average consumer is most likely not turning to the department’s site for updates on their cannabis.

They both think that there should be a structure in place for dispensaries or brands to notify consumers immediately when products have been recalled but resort to emailing and calling for now.

“Trying to contact everybody that bought that metric number of that vape pen or whatever it was, it’s unreasonable,“ Meyers said. “We have a really robust email list of customers, and they pay attention, so we can send out an email to all the customers. Just like they do with food recalls.”

“It depends on what information is being collected from the customer,“ Krishnamachari said. “We’re big into collecting everybody‘s emails and phone numbers so that we can have that clear communication. I don’t know if that’s being done out here. That’s what’s different between us and the food industry. If there’s something that gets recalled by Del Monte or whatever, they don’t know who all the customers were. We know who all the customers were.”

Heading into the afternoon, we sat in on the ‘The Impact on Women in Cannabis’ discussion.

Panelists included Airo Brands Vice President of Marketing Annie Davis, Inspire Head of Impact Luna Stower, and Phylos Bioscience Chief Commercial Office Whitney Conroy.

These trailblazers for women in the marijuana field took 40 minutes to express their concerns with trends in the workplace, display statistics on how brands perform with women in leadership positions, and share what they think can help further the industry through more inclusive practices.

They quickly jumped into statistics about consumer purchasing habits, which indicated that brands should be spending more time catering to female consumers.

“As you’re developing or promoting your brand—not just in cannabis—but women accounts make 83% of the consumer purchasing decisions period in this country,“ Davis said.

With cannabis being so fresh, Stower mentioned how women within the line of work have created apps and messaging systems to communicate with each other on which brands in the industry align with their values as far as employing women and offering routes to grow.

“We just saw different app groups that are focused on calling out bad actors,“ She said. “Because we don’t have a third-party ombudsman, we don’t have a deal, we don’t have a better business bureau. We got each other, so it’s the code.”

The panelists also touched on the fact that many dispensaries lean toward having one or two women-owned cannabis brands in their supply, just to say that they support businesses owned by women. 

“Oftentimes, I run on the brand side, on the consumer package side of this industry, and we’ll talk to retailers, and they’ll be like, ‘Well, I already have a brand for women on the show. I already have a female-focused brand.‘ Why do we use one? One brand to represent all of our consumer candidates’ interests?“ Davis said.

Following this discussion, we attended the ‘Improving consumer experience through the use of AI and LLMs’ panel. CC Security Solutions Founder and CEO Chris Eggers, Heylo Partner Daniel Luebke, and Happy Cabbage Analytics Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Watson. 

Walking into this panel, we thought that these expert data analysts were going to jump into how AI will takeover how consumers obtain their cannabis, similar to how some bodegas and shopping centers in larger cities have opted for employee-free self-checkout, eliminating multiple jobs.

But, this was not the discussion. Much of their conversation consisted of how brands, specifically dispensaries, can optimize AI and LLMs (large language modules) for inventory management and consumer insights. Take a deep breath, KC budtenders; AI isn’t coming with fire and pitchforks for your jobs just yet.

These experts touched on the aspect of AI taking more control of the market at the point-of-sale but think that it is a far-fetched reach for the industry at the moment. Overall, while there was valuable information on the future of AI, this discussion was more of a sales pitch to the brands in the audience who are looking for a third-party data company to help them elevate sales revenue.

Photo by Jennifer Korman Photography

Day Two

The second day got rolling as the experience hall opened up for attendees, and panels continued. We spent the morning at the ‘Your market: Key trends for consumer insight’ panel before checking out the sleek set-up in the middle of Union Station.

The discussion was led solely by BDSA—a cannabis industry data analytics company—Co-Founder and CEO Roy Bingham.

Bingham provided numerous sets of data that allowed us to see where the Missouri market is in comparison with other fresh industries, as well as where more veteran states—Colorado and California—were at this time in their development.

He dove in early with overall statistics on Missouri and the cannabis industry at large, showing that MO had broken over $1 billion in sales in 2023, with a forecast of $1.25 in sales this year by the end of December. Statistics lead Bingham and his company to believe that the market will reach $1.8 billion in sales in 2028.

Looking into how the market is broken down, flower leads all cannabis sales at 36%, with vape cartridges following at 25%, edibles at 17%, and pre-rolls at about 11% and growing. Both edible and pre-roll sales are higher than national averages. The average retail price is also down 9.5% in MO, with discounts playing a much larger role as the field develops. Maryland—another state that introduced legal recreational marijuana in 2024—has seen a price drop of about 9%, so data indicates that consumers are benefiting on a consistent level compared to other legal states.

Comparing oil and distillate statistics between Kansas City and St. Louis, .5g distillate disposables are sold at lower prices in St. Louis, 1 and 2g distillate sales are higher in Kansas City with higher prices, and live resin cartridges are performing better in St. Louis. Another interesting fact that Bingham pointed out was that Kansas City is moving just as much product out the door as St. Louis City and County, with about half as many dispensary locations.

Due to the way that Missouri’s cannabis program is structured, there are 146 multi-state brands and 110 Missouri-only brands operating within the state. This is vastly different from most markets, where many out-of-state companies have come in and have made growing a local brand difficult. According to the data provided by Bingham, Missouri, Ohio, and Oregon are the only few states that near about a 50/50 mix of each.

When asked what he thought was the most interesting aspect of MO’s market, Bingham said, “I think the point I mentioned about brands and having local brands, and, of course, those brands are learning from other markets. They’re observing what’s happening in other places and saying, ‘I think these things are likely to happen in this area.‘ I think things are very sharp here and very on the ball.“

In the afternoon, we made our way to the experience hall. Companies from all different angles, hitting on the ever-growing industry, and looking to expand. Strangely buried away in a closet-like room compared to the center of Union Station were a couple Missouri microbusinesses. With the focus on the lustrous business collaborations, it seemed that very few paid attention to the few smaller-scale locals.

Overall, the tradeshow was a great way for business partners and stakeholders to network, but not much to offer from a consumer’s perspective who is just looking to learn more about the plant and the industry, which the panels did such a great job executing. It is an amazing event for experts within the field, but there is so much mastery of the craft in one space that would benefit consumers.

“What makes us really happy is when we see all these people smiling and coming up and saying that this show has been phenomenal and that they made so many new connections, or they got the business done,“ Jage said.

While it is great for professionals in the line of work, if the event was open to the public, the average consumer would walk away with loads of information, yet there doesn’t seem to be any local events like MJ Unpacked where consumers can truly get a better grasp of the plant in the market.

“I’ve dabbled into the consumer media space,“ Jage said. “Certainly, it’s interesting, it’s exciting. And I’ve seen a lot of groups that have gone out and done that, like Hall of Flowers, which was very probably the most similar business model to ours, where it’s really focused around the brands and the retailers.”

MJ Unpacked plans on returning to St. Louis between Sept. 3 through Sept. 5, 2025.

For now, there might not be many of these events in the city or state, but we’re new. We’re fresh. There is still so much more to come. An event with this level of expertise taking place here says a lot about the projection of the most favored flower in Missouri, and consumers have price declines, wider availability, and future events to look forward to.