License Revoked
According to a report from Columbus Business First, Ohio is in the process of pulling one of the licenses for a medical marijuana cultivator in Ohio due to inactivity. The company, OhiGrow LLC, is a small scale grower. Their owner is based out of Chicago, but the cultivation plant was set to be opened in Toledo.
"We found them to be generally non-responsive," Mark Hamlin, senior policy adviser at the Ohio Department of Commerce, told the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program committee during their monthly meeting. "They wanted to change their site proposal in a way that was significantly different from their application. We tried to give them every opportunity to communicate with us through the process. The expectations were communicated to them throughout."
OhiGrow LLC will be allowed to appeal this decision and get their license back once they get things on track. This latest ding brings the total number of cultivators in the state to 25 -- 12 small scale growers and 13 large scale growers.
Marijuana Woes and Wins
This news also comes on the heels of a blistering report from Ohio Auditor, Dave Yost, who called the handling of medical marijuana applications "sloppy." You can read the full text of Mr. Yost's 39-page audit results here.
The Department of Commerce did admit errors in their overall process of granting licences, but "respectfully disagreed" with Yost's assessment. It remains unclear if the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program
Meanwhile, several Ohio cultivators are currently growing throughout the state, including a large scale cultivator in Eastlake (see video below for a look at their grow lab). And just this week, two more cultivators received their licenses, one large scale cultivator in Muskingum County and a small cultivator in Butler County.
Naturally, the quicker we see growing facilities planting their seeds, and producing quality medical marijuana for all Ohio marijuana card patients, the sooner we will see product in Ohio medical marijuana dispensaries.
Though smoking marijuana has been strictly prohibited by Ohio medical marijuana law, cannabis cultivators will still be growing cannabis flowers for sale in state-licensed dispensaries, in addition to marijuana-infused waxes, oils, tinctures, edibles and topical creams, many of which will be produced by marijuana processors. To see the different delivery methods for cannabis allowed in Ohio, give this resource a read.
Dispensaries are not yet open, but will be soon. To find a dispensary near you, check out our comprehensive list of dispensaries, or to find out how you can get your medical marijuana card in Ohio, just click over here for the details. In the meantime, as always, stay tuned for more exciting Ohio medical marijuana news!