Local marijuana facility growing to accommodate recreational users

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Riviera Creek is Youngstown’s marijuana growing factory. Located on Crescent Street in an industrial section of the city known as Riverbend, for 6 years it’s been growing marijuana for medical purposes — but that’s now changing to handle the recreational user .

Riviera Creek’s Daniel and Brian Kessler on Wednesday afternoon walked First News through what will be another marijuana grow room . What started 6 years ago with two rooms will be 13 to 15 rooms by the end of 2025. But will it be enough?

“At this point, we don’t know. We want to get through it, see where demand shakes out, and at that point, we might make a decision to continue the growth,” Daniel Kessler said.

In November 2018, Brian Kessler showed First News the leaves of the first marijuana plants grown legally in Youngstown. Just 14 months later, he showed us how the buds, the part of the plant that’s sold, and how Riviera Creek was marking its marijuana with names like “Stambaugh” and “Wild Cat.”

Now, it’s time to service the recreational market.

“I mean, the truth is, this is a complex thing. Realize that overnight, a total industry is being turned on,” Brian said.

Getting the recreational market up and running is the responsibility of the Ohio Department Commerce’s new Division of Cannabis Control .

“I’m very happy and appreciative of what the effort’s been by commerce in setting up a division to handle it, and then working with the industry on all sides of getting this up and running,” Brian Kessler said.

It’s possible the first recreational marijuana could be sold sometime next month, initially through Ohio’s 120 existing medical marijuana dispensaries. Riviera Creek will also get three dispensaries.

“At this point, we’re not focused on Youngstown , but maybe some surrounding areas,” Brian Kessler said.

Kessler also says communities should not be overly concerned about having a dispensary.

“There’s tax dollars that they benefit from, and that it really has a positive effect in every place I’ve seen it, more than any kind of negative,” Brian Kessler said. “It’s not like there’s people hanging outside these things. They’re adults. They come, they purchase and they go off to use it in their own private houses.”

Kessler says initially there will be a supply and demand challenge. About 120 dispensaries will likely not be enough to handle the demand: At first, expect long lines and high prices.

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