The association estimates at least 122,500 people, or about 2 percent of Missouri’s population, would qualify as medical marijuana patients as soon as next year, Cardetti said.

The study relies on old data from states with widely varying medical marijuana programs, Cardetti said. California, for example, doesn’t require the state to keep a registry of its patients. Other states cited in the study, such as Alaska, had fewer than 1,000 patients in 2015 because their programs were restrictive, he said.

States with laws similar to Missouri’s have seen patients in the hundreds of thousands, he said. Florida has approved more than 200,000 patients after legalizing medical marijuana in 2016, and Oklahoma has licensed more than 83,000 patients since legalizing medical marijuana in June, he said.

Oklahoma has a population of about 3.9 million. Missouri has a population of about 6.2 million.

“The notion that after three years, that less than a half of one percent of Missouri’s population will be qualified medical marijuana patients just isn’t based in reality,” he said.