Ohio is getting close to the start of recreational marijuana sales. Seven months after voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 2, the citizen-initiated statute that legalized recreational marijuana in the state.On Friday, Ohio’s 132 medical marijuana dispensaries will be able to apply for recreational sales permits. Processing of the applications by the Division of Cannabis Control could take up to two weeks.
At Amplify dispensary on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights. The staff and stock are expanding, and the store is figuring out how to meet the expected spike in demand. For cannabis flower, edibles, beverages, and more. AJ Caraballo, Amplify’s retail director. Everyone anticipates long lines in the early days of recreational marijuana sales. But we will prioritize medical marijuana patients.
We want to make sure that our medical patients will be able to skip the lines. Getting priority care here while we’re still excited to welcome our adult-use (marijuana) consumers. Said Caraballo.
Recreational cannabis sales in Ohio are only allowed in the state’s dispensaries. That had applied for dual-use permits. Using the existing framework of regulations that have already been in place since medical marijuana became legal in 2016. Meanwhile, state and local lawmakers continue to shape the rules and laws for recreational sales. For the state’s cannabis programs full roll out in September.
On Monday night, Cleveland City Council passed an ordinance that mirrors the state’s law banning dispensaries from within 500 feet of schools, churches, libraries, and playgrounds. It also limits dispensaries to designated retail districts in the city.
In Columbus this week, two Ohio Republican senators introduced a bill that would require home marijuana growers to sign an affidavit declaring they won’t sell any products derived from what they grow.
However, state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), who sits on the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, strongly opposes the measure by his fellow Republicans.
People who voted for Issue 2. Voted for it because it allowed home growing. Those who voted are excited to grow! Registration on a government database makes many of those uncomfortable.
Though its not clear when Ohio’s adult-use cannabis program will be fully implemented. The initiated statute laid out a process in which the new Division of Cannabis Control within the Department of Commerce has until Sept. 7 to complete the rule making and licensing processes for non-medical cannabis.
It is worth noting that, as an initiated statute and not a constitutional amendment, the Ohio General Assembly has the power to repeal or modify the state law.
