There's nearly 20K spots OH marijuana operators can’t set up within 500 feet of

As the state recently granted a handful of dual licenses to medical marijuana operators who can now operate recreationally, the question is where those businesses are allowed to set up shop.

According to Marijuana Moment , the below list of marijuana operators were among the first for a dual license approval in Ohio. To have a dual license means those businesses can operate medicinally and for recreational purposes.

“We're excited. Obviously, there's a little bit of impatience that everyone wants to get started,” said the CEO of SBL Venture Capital LLC, Brian Kessler.

SBL Venture Capital LLC owns Riviera Creek Holdings II, LLC.

“It's been a process to get through. We're really proud of the fact that we were approved and none of the stores are open yet. We're hoping that will happen shortly. I don't know if it's days. I don't think it's weeks, but hopefully very soon,” explained Kessler.

The next step for Riviera Creek Holdings II, LLC is making sure their products are in compliance with Ohio law.

Part of that compliance stage is following Section 3796.30, which prohibits marijuana operators from conducting business within 500 feet of a school, church, public library, public playground, or public park.

If a marijuana operator is found in violation, “the division of marijuana control shall revoke the license it previously issued to the cultivator, processor, retail dispensary, or laboratory.”

“I think maybe it will sort of slow down the rollout. I think slowing it down is good for quality control, which I've heard has plagued other markets, but mainly for me it's about protecting kids, protecting childhood,” said Cleveland Heights dad John McGovern. McGovern is also an educator.

The Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center has been gathering geographical data for the last few months as a resource for current and future marijuana operators.

The map shows:

• Schools – 6,551 locations
• Churches – 9,934 locations
• Public libraries – 719 locations

“Unfortunately, due to limited data availability, we were not able to include locations considered public playgrounds or public parks. Our analysis would require comprehensive shapefiles for these locations, which currently do not exist,” the published analysis from OSU reads.
The OSU Drug Enforcement and Policy Center was able to manually locate 76 state parks and more than 800 locations considered parks using Google’s mapping technology.

“There are an untold number of public playgrounds,” the analysis states.

Dexter Ridgway is a Research Associate at OSU and helped gather data in this “Prohibited Areas for Marijuana Operators Across the State of Ohio” analysis.

“I just wanted to use that as a resource for people right now and who knows what's going to happen in the next two years with all this stuff and we might develop it a little bit more,” stated Ridgway. “We are also looking into doing research on how localities spent marijuana tax revenue in other places or other things.”

Ridgway and OSU Drug Enforcement and Policy Center Administrative Director Jana Hrdinova described the project as a “self-starter.”

Ridgway told News 5 that while marijuana operators didn’t request the study, it’s starting to gain traction online.

Kessler said he supports the 500-foot rule of thumb law.

“I like the controls. I want people to know when they're interacting with the legal cannabis market in the state of Ohio that they feel like it's safe, that they don't feel like it's screwing up their town or that reefer madness is happening,” stated Kessler.

McGovern said he wishes the same law would apply to tobacco and alcohol. He’s hopeful that will be a later consideration in the legislature and is crossing his fingers the current law on marijuana operation locations doesn’t change.

“[Ohio lawmakers] are not really for the people in my mind because they've gerrymandered themselves into power. If they were to listen to me… That’s not something that should go away. There's no reason for it to go away,” said McGovern. “This limits, to some degree, licenses because people have to be more creative.”