The irony of Bryce Stull鈥檚 current job is not lost on him.
After a decade as a 蜜芽传媒 City police officer, cracking down on weed-related crimes, Stull now helps marijuana purveyors move their products and profits around the state.
He and his colleagues are all former law enforcement officers, recruited by a cannabis transportation firm, Talaria Transportation, for their security skills.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 a safety concern they are well-versed on how to handle it,鈥 Stull said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just transporting bags, but you always joke, 鈥榊eah, we used to bust people doing this and now we鈥檙e helping everybody.鈥欌
Since adult-use cannabis sales became legal in Missouri in 2022, the market has boomed. The past two years have brought in $2.5 billion in sales of recreational cannabis and last month The Wall Street Journal dubbed Missouri a 鈥渃annabis Mecca.鈥
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And as the industry expands, entrepreneurs are looking to tap in to the state鈥檚 success. Locally, a couple has found success running a mobile cannabis waste management service. Some chefs offer cannabis-infused dining experiences and, in south 蜜芽传媒, there鈥檚 a pot lounge on Cherokee Street.
Most cannabis-related businesses require some kind of state license, whether it be for testing, growing or selling, though there are some loopholes. As of March, Missouri has issued 31 transportation facility licenses. Talaria holds two of them.
Headquartered in Pennsylvania, Talaria Transportation CEO Ari Raptis said the company jumped at the chance to apply for a transport license as medical cannabis sales became legal in Missouri in 2020. Not many states offer cannabis-specific transport licenses, so when they saw Missouri requiring them, Raptis said he knew the state鈥檚 cannabis industry growth would be organized and efficient.
Talaria moves cannabis products in-state between dispensaries, manufacturing facilities, cultivation facilities and testing labs. The company intentionally hires former police officers and military members, Raptis said.
鈥淭hey lived a life of protecting and securing products,鈥 Raptis said. 鈥淭hey deal with high-risk, high-value products and they understand the needs in protecting that.鈥
February was the first time recreational sales were under $103 million in a month for Missouri in a year, according to data from the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Adult-use monthly sales came in the highest they鈥檝e ever been in December 2024 at over $155 million, but then dropped to about $108 million in January.
Still, Talaria is on a growth plan, Raptis said. Raptis sees potential to grow the business by 60% in Missouri this year, adding more to its fleet of 20 unmarked and armored vehicles and 60 employees, he said, calling Missouri one of the company鈥檚 stronghold states.
鈥淥n average [business grows] four times when the state goes from medical to recreational,鈥 Raptis said. 鈥淢issouri is such an amazing market that it grew six times.鈥
Nationwide, Talaria transports about $1.5 billion worth of cannabis annually. In Missouri, the company moves about $80 million each year, or about 650 deliveries per month. Raptis would not disclose how much Talaria charges its clients.
Talaria has offices in Columbia, Springfield and 蜜芽传媒 County. Its sister company, National Secure Transport, also headquartered locally in 蜜芽传媒, transports cash for cannabis businesses.
Stull is the vault manager at National Secure Transport鈥檚 蜜芽传媒 office. He oversees a team of nine drivers who also drive money from dispensaries to the Federal Reserve in downtown 蜜芽传媒 for deposit. Since joining the company鈥檚 Fenton office as a driver in 2022, Stull said he鈥檚 watched the cannabis market explode.
鈥淲e put a lot of miles on our vehicles and employ some good people and do our thing,鈥 he said.
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