Race to the Starting Line
If you're a medical marijuana Ohio patient, you already know how long you've waited to see cannabis finally hit store shelves. It's been a slow, often angering, ride. As a patient myself, I feel that frustration on a personal level.
But that's why 2019 will be such an exciting year! Cannabis is finally coming to Ohio, and dispensaries will be opening soon. Like really, really soon. Not a rumor. Not speculation. Ohio weed - it is coming.
As we reported last week, and now additionally confirmed through Cincinnati.com, Cresco Labs is aiming to open their dispensary in Wintersville, OH by the end of next week (Jan 18th). The Forest in Sandusky, run by Standard Wellness, is also planning on opening around the same time, or by the end of the month.
We have updated our dispensary maps to include this news. Click the link or the image above to see the full map. Yellow dots on the dispensary icons indicate stores that are near opening. As stores open, those yellow dots will become red dots. Once they are red, the dispensaries will be open!
Delays still possible
The only hurdle to Cresco and Standard Wellness now will be testers, who are currently hard at work calibrating their machines and testing product. Testing is a necessary phase of the cannabis cultivation process as it ensures that cannabis products sold in Ohio dispensaries are free of pesticides, lead and other harmful contaminants.
Only two labs, Hocking College and North Coast Laboratories, are up and running. According to Cincinnati.com, North Coast is not expecting to have cannabis approved until early February. It is possible, with these minor hurdles, we may see another delay in opening. But with Cresco Labs remarkably eager to open, we may see a miracle by the end of next week. Fingers crossed!
Ohio considers six new medical conditions, including opioid addiction
There are currently 21 medical conditions that have been approved by the State Medical Board of Ohio and the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy for treatment with medical marijuana. Throughout November and December of 2018, patients and doctors were able to submit petitions to the state in order to add more medical conditions to the MMJ program.
After receiving nearly 100 submissions, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy has chosen six new medical conditions that they will review over the next few months. These conditions include: insomnia, depression, general anxiety, chronic anxiety, autism and opioid addiction, a condition that New York and Pennsylvania recently allowed.
The Board of Pharmacy will now review the evidence and make a determination whether or not to add these medical conditions to Ohio's medical marijuana program. If they do, the conditions would expand from 21 to 27! It's likely, however, that the state may only accept a select few of those six conditions, based on research, evidence and details that the Board of Pharmacy determine during the evaluation period.
Adding more medical conditions will greatly allow expansion of the program while helping literally hundreds of thousands of Ohioans find relief from their ailments, their anxiety or their depression. Or medical marijuana could help patients get off deadly opioids that can kill with just a few missteps (like taking too many pills on accident).
The Medical Board will announce their findings by June 30, 2019. If they approve the conditions, those patients would simply need to contact a doctor certified by the state to recommend medical marijuana. From there, they would have their evaluation, receive their recommendation, and get their medical marijuana card.
If you are an Ohioan suffering from one of these 21 medical conditions you may be eligible to treat your ailment with medical marijuana, which includes both THC and CBD products.
Click here to learn more about what Ohio Marijuana Card's state-certified medical marijuana doctors can do for you, or give us a call at 1-866-457-5559 and our friendly support team can walk you through the entire process, and set you up with an appointment.