Many Ohio dispensaries move one step closer to being able to sell recreational marijuana

BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio — AUGUST 17: Marijuana plants in a flowering room where the artificial sunlight is adjusted to stimulate growth of the flowers, August 17, 2023, at PharmaCann, Inc.’s cultivation and processing facility in Buckeye Lake, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)

Ohioans will likely be able to legally purchase recreational marijuana sooner than initially expected.

The state Division of Cannabis Control recently awarded about 60 dual-use provisional licenses to various medical marijuana dispensaries, cultivators, laboratories and processors, according to the state’s online database . Thirty-one dispensaries, 15 cultivators, 11 processors and five laboratories received licenses.

However, a dual-use provisional license does not automatically allow the sale of recreational marijuana, according to an email from Jamie Crawford, spokesman for the Division of Cannabis Control.

Rather, it acts as a placeholder while the business works to get a Certificate of Operation by meeting various requirements including having an inspection and demonstrating that employees can tell the difference between medical and recreational sales.

“There have been no Certificates of Operation issued to dispensaries to begin selling non-medical cannabis at this point,” Crawford told the OCJ.

It’s hard to determine when exactly recreational marijuana sales will begin in the Buckeye State.

“There will be no one singular day when sales begin,” Crawford said. “We will start issuing licenses and it will be up to the retailer based on staffing, stock and other considerations as to which day they will begin sales.”

Ohio legalized marijuana for those 21 and up last year through Issue 2, a citizens initiative that received 57% of the vote. At the time, those behind Issue 2 speculated the first round of licenses wouldn’t be issued until August.

License applications opened earlier this month and must be approved or denied by Sept. 7.

Under Issue 2, Ohioans can grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household.

The House and the Senate had different ideas of changing marijuana legalization after Issue 2 passed — something lawmakers are able to do with a citizens initiative — but neither proposal was able to pass in the opposite chamber .

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