Medical marijuana is getting closer to becoming reality in Ohio.
The Board of Pharmacy announced it will hold a special meeting Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. to award dispensary licenses.
One Forest Park applicant is awaiting the decision amid plans to build.
Ohio Releaf III LLC applied for a dispensary license at 12145 Omniplex Court in Forest Park.
The plan is to build from the ground up, but it all hinges on what happens Wednesday morning.
“We are definitely prepared to find out. Hopeful that we’ll get selected,” said Greg May, with Ohio Releaf III LLC.
The company has been waiting months to learn the fate of its dispensary application.
In the meantime, it’s been working toward approval from the Forest Park City Council.
“Not a tremendous amount of feedback from the community, other than the council and the planning commission, which were supportive of it. There certainly hasn’t been any negative comments or negative feedback about it,” said May.
At a meeting Monday night, the council learned that the planning commission unanimously passed a special exception for the business at a location that took a lot of planning.
“There are a lot of cities in Butler County that have passed bans and the proximity of this site to Butler County puts it in a position where it can serve even a greater amount of patients than just in Hamilton County itself,” said May.
Selling medical marijuana means major cash flow.
So the building plans include vaults and security guards.
“We use security monitoring that is specific to the cannabis industry,” said May. “The entire security system was built with the use in mind, with various access restrictions and lots of technology.”
Out of the 376 dispensary applications statewide, 56 will be granted.
Ohio Releaf III LLC hopes to get one of three licenses to be awarded in Hamilton County.
Should Ohio Releaf III LLC get a dispensary license, the Forest Park City Council would then vote on an ordinance to allow the dispensary in town.
The statewide medical marijuana program is supposed to be fully operational in September.
