Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
These are high times for economic development in the Licking County village of Johnstown.
While so many Ohio communities have turned up their noses at even the slightest whiff of interest from a medical marijuana-related business looking to put down roots, Johnstown's leaders are taking the opposite tack.
Good for them.
Rather than join the doomsayers who see medical marijuana as the first step into reefer madness, Johnstown has decided to treat it as a business opportunity like any other.
The village passed a resolution last summer that it would not keep out medical marijuana businesses. Officials changed the zoning to allow for cannabis cultivation in the local industrial park, and four lots there are already spoken for by growers. A contract on a fifth lot is pending, and the village is pretty much out of room.
"We are technically, by default, turning people away," Village Manager Jim Lenner told Dispatch Reporter Jennifer Smola.
The heartiest welcome, though, may be Johnstown's decision to tax cannabis-related businesses at the same rate as any other village business: 1 percent on the earned income of employees and 1 percent on the business' net profit.
Ohio legalized medical marijuana last fall. The state began accepting applications in May for cultivation permits, which will be limited to 24 growers statewide. The growers who have struck contracts with Johnstown made the deals contingent on their permits being granted.
In charting this course, Johnstown officials have looked for guidance from Andy Joseph, CEO and president of Apeks Supercritical, a business already in the Johnstown park that makes equipment that extracts plant oils, whether mint or marijuana.
Speaking to This Week in August, Joseph recalled some reluctance from Johnstown officials when he was getting started.
"When I first opened my building and presented what I do, there was some skepticism," he said. "But one comment from (Mayor) Sean (Staneart) was that no one is knocking on our door to get into our business park. That comment still holds true today. ... That's the unfortunate reality. There aren't other businesses looking at us."
That candor is informative. If other businesses aren't interested, why not cater to ones that are?
Some residents worry that Johnstown will be stigmatized, but they needn't fret. With more than half of the states having legalized the use of medical marijuana, the controversy is over. Properly prescribed, it helps sick people.
The residents of Adelanto, Calif., might put Johnstown's citizens more at ease.
Before the medical marijuana industry came to Adelanto, the small desert town two hours east of Los Angeles was known primarily for prisons.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Adelanto was in debt for $2.6 million just a few years ago. Residents debated dissolving the city and filing for bankruptcy.
Those fears have waned after the city marketed itself as a destination for cannabis growers, with the mayor envisioning Adelanto as the "Silicon Valley for medical marijuana."
The sky above Adelanto didn't fall, but the deficit did by about $2 million.
There are no guarantees that legal weed will work miracles here or there. The cannabis industry is still evolving. The permits for the growers eyeing Johnstown might not come through, and they may not stay put as the industry changes. But that's true of any industry. Johnstown might end up with some empty lots in its industrial park years from now, but that's pretty much what they have right now.
But Johnstown has a real chance to make pot while the grow lights shine. Nothing says the Silicon Valley of medical marijuana has to be in California.
Johnstown already has streets named Leafy Dell Road and Green Acres Drive, but this new narrative goes back even farther, should Johnstown choose to embrace it.
According to the village's website, the area's first pioneers were a couple from Virginia who arrived in 1806.
Their names were George and Diadema Green.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Theodore Decker: It's high time communities welcome medical marijuana growers - News - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus, OH
Author: Theodore Decker
Contact: Contact - Columbus, OH - The Columbus Dispatch
Photo Credit: Chmee2
Website: The Columbus Dispatch: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Columbus, OH
While so many Ohio communities have turned up their noses at even the slightest whiff of interest from a medical marijuana-related business looking to put down roots, Johnstown's leaders are taking the opposite tack.
Good for them.
Rather than join the doomsayers who see medical marijuana as the first step into reefer madness, Johnstown has decided to treat it as a business opportunity like any other.
The village passed a resolution last summer that it would not keep out medical marijuana businesses. Officials changed the zoning to allow for cannabis cultivation in the local industrial park, and four lots there are already spoken for by growers. A contract on a fifth lot is pending, and the village is pretty much out of room.
"We are technically, by default, turning people away," Village Manager Jim Lenner told Dispatch Reporter Jennifer Smola.
The heartiest welcome, though, may be Johnstown's decision to tax cannabis-related businesses at the same rate as any other village business: 1 percent on the earned income of employees and 1 percent on the business' net profit.
Ohio legalized medical marijuana last fall. The state began accepting applications in May for cultivation permits, which will be limited to 24 growers statewide. The growers who have struck contracts with Johnstown made the deals contingent on their permits being granted.
In charting this course, Johnstown officials have looked for guidance from Andy Joseph, CEO and president of Apeks Supercritical, a business already in the Johnstown park that makes equipment that extracts plant oils, whether mint or marijuana.
Speaking to This Week in August, Joseph recalled some reluctance from Johnstown officials when he was getting started.
"When I first opened my building and presented what I do, there was some skepticism," he said. "But one comment from (Mayor) Sean (Staneart) was that no one is knocking on our door to get into our business park. That comment still holds true today. ... That's the unfortunate reality. There aren't other businesses looking at us."
That candor is informative. If other businesses aren't interested, why not cater to ones that are?
Some residents worry that Johnstown will be stigmatized, but they needn't fret. With more than half of the states having legalized the use of medical marijuana, the controversy is over. Properly prescribed, it helps sick people.
The residents of Adelanto, Calif., might put Johnstown's citizens more at ease.
Before the medical marijuana industry came to Adelanto, the small desert town two hours east of Los Angeles was known primarily for prisons.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Adelanto was in debt for $2.6 million just a few years ago. Residents debated dissolving the city and filing for bankruptcy.
Those fears have waned after the city marketed itself as a destination for cannabis growers, with the mayor envisioning Adelanto as the "Silicon Valley for medical marijuana."
The sky above Adelanto didn't fall, but the deficit did by about $2 million.
There are no guarantees that legal weed will work miracles here or there. The cannabis industry is still evolving. The permits for the growers eyeing Johnstown might not come through, and they may not stay put as the industry changes. But that's true of any industry. Johnstown might end up with some empty lots in its industrial park years from now, but that's pretty much what they have right now.
But Johnstown has a real chance to make pot while the grow lights shine. Nothing says the Silicon Valley of medical marijuana has to be in California.
Johnstown already has streets named Leafy Dell Road and Green Acres Drive, but this new narrative goes back even farther, should Johnstown choose to embrace it.
According to the village's website, the area's first pioneers were a couple from Virginia who arrived in 1806.
Their names were George and Diadema Green.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Theodore Decker: It's high time communities welcome medical marijuana growers - News - The Columbus Dispatch - Columbus, OH
Author: Theodore Decker
Contact: Contact - Columbus, OH - The Columbus Dispatch
Photo Credit: Chmee2
Website: The Columbus Dispatch: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Columbus, OH
