SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — For marijuana enthusiasts, today, 4/20, is celebrated as an unofficial holiday.

With recreational marijuana now legal in Missouri, many local dispensaries are gearing up for one of their busiest days of the year.

Cody Shackelton, the director of operations and marketing with The Farmers Wife dispensary, said the dispensary is expected to see over double the amount customers it saw on 4/20 last year.

“We’ll be running with our typical one guard and we have a lot of extra staff on hand and so we’re ready. We’re excited for it,” said Shackelton.

In the last month, Missouri has made over $126 million from the weed business.

With higher traffic from customers, many dispensaries are selling out fast. At The Farmer’s Wife, they’ve had to get creative when ordering more products.

The Farmer’s Wife has added new suppliers to keep up with the higher demand and said working with other local businesses is a great opportunity for folks to learn more about the industry.

“Having that partnership with them has really been a nice way for people in the community to say ‘Oh, I know Kaleidoscope! They’re working with Farmer’s Wife? Perfect, we’ll go to The Farmer’s Wife,'” said Shackelton.

However, marijuana enthusiasts will have to be aware of new marijuana regulations as the city of Springfield updated its city ordinance involving marijuana as the state overall is seeing a huge increase in weed sales. 

“Even with the new constitutional amendment that allows recreational use of marijuana, it’s not a complete ‘anything goes’ scenario out there. There are restrictions on when people can use it, how they can use it, so I would encourage everyone to be safe and be responsible,” said Chris Hoeman, the assistant city attorney for Springfield.

Ahead of today’s expected celebrations, Springfield City Council passed an ordinance this week banning people from smoking in public or in a vehicle — whether they are a driver or a passenger.

Under the ordinance, you can face a $100 fine or community service if caught smoking marijuana in public.

I asked Hoeman how expungement cases are coming along in the area and he tells me the courts are being proactive in trying to get those with certain marijuana crimes expunged.

“But for the courts to actually start going through their records and see who was entitled to have their records expunged for certain marijuana offenses, so I know they are working through that process,” said Hoeman.