How Marijuana Cultivation is Becoming an Increasingly Popular Industry in Iowa

The state of Iowa is seeing an increase in the cultivation of marijuana. 

And this increase continues to grow in a significant way. 

As you may know, in February of 2023, Democratic lawmakers in the Iowa House of Representatives unveiled legislation that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults. 

This is pretty big news on the horizon for a state like Iowa, which doesn’t yet have a recreational marijuana law in place. 

With that being said, Iowa does have a medical marijuana program. And that program has seen some pretty dramatic success over the past few years. 

According to news sources, the medical marijuana program in Iowa saw $10 million in cumulative sales in 2022. 

The truth is that the number of medical marijuana cards issued in Iowa has also continued to increase. But honestly, that’s not so surprising either. 

According to news sources, about 7,800 patients were enrolled in the medical marijuana program in Iowa as of December 2021. But by November of 2022, that number had grown to approximately 15,000 individuals. 

What Are People Using Medical Marijuana For In Iowa?

Among the 15,000 individuals who were participating in the medical marijuana program in Iowa at the end of 2022, about 10,000 of them were said to hold cards due to the fact that they suffer from chronic pain. 

This is by far the most common reason that people give for signing up for the program. 

Trailing by a strong second place is the number of cardholders who enrolled in the program to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. According to statistics, about 2,800 cardholders list PTSD as the reason for why they use medical marijuana. 

With all of this marijuana being used for medical purposes, an important question looms on the horizon. 

Where is all of this marijuana being cultivated?

And secondly—is the cultivation also helping the state of Iowa?

These are great questions. 

Let’s dive into it. 

How Much Marijuana Is Cultivated In Iowa?

First of all, in comparison to other states, Iowa doesn’t produce an incredible amount of cannabis. 

In fact, it’s not even ranked among the top 15 cannabis-producing states in the United States. 

But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some serious money being spent to increase cannabis production in the state. 

For example—in Windsor Heights, Iowa, MedPharm has reported that it is rebranding its dispensary. 

In doing so, it’s investing $10 million dollars into the cannabis production facility. 

From now on, the company will now be known as Bud & Mary’s. According to news sources, the crop produced at this production facility used to be capable of meeting Iowa’s medical marijuana needs for 5 or 6 months. 

But with the recent spike in medical card holders, their crop only produces enough to last about 6 to 8 weeks. 

The $10 million investment in production will enable the company to produce more than three times the amount of plants they used to produce. 

And this is just one example of a cannabis production facility in the state that’s investing heavily in the future of marijuana in Iowa. 

As more and more people sign up for medical marijuana, and as recreational cannabis lands on the ballot, it makes sense to assume that the demand for marijuana is going to increase to a pretty fantastic degree in the not-so-distant future. 

And all of this leads to marijuana cultivation becoming an increasingly popular industry in Iowa for people who want to grow their own businesses (literally), and for people with an eye for spotting the potential for profitability. 

Of course, nobody knows for sure what the future of Iowa’s cannabis industry will look like. 

But there’s a good possibility that it’s going to continue to grow and thrive into the future—especially with recreational marijuana approaching on the horizon. 

Conclusion

If you’re interested in using medical marijuana in Iowa today, you don’t necessarily need to wait for recreational weed to become legal. If you have a qualifying medical condition, you could easily apply for your own medical marijuana card right online. It doesn’t get much easier than that—which is part of the reason for why the industry is booming and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.