Ohioans, who approved the sale of recreational marijuana this past November, could see cannabis available for sale in the state by the middle of next month now that licensing rules for dispensaries cleared a legislative hurdle Monday.
Once the statute went into effect in December, Ohioans over 21 were immediately able to legally grow and have cannabis at home. But there were no legal outlets to purchase it. According to the Associated Press, this prompted “concern by Gov. Mike DeWine and some fellow Republicans in the Legislature that openings would be created for a black market.”
The AP reported that the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) paved the way for a licensing program allowing existing medical marijuana dispensaries to also sell non-medical marijuana products. Applications will be available by no later than June 7, as the new law requires.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to serve adult-use consumers here in Ohio,” Tom Haren, a spokesperson for the Ohio Cannabis Coalition told the Ohio Capital Journal (OCJ).
Republican state senators passed a proposal a month after Issue 2 passed that would allow medical dispensaries to sell recreationally immediately. The OCJ reported that the proposal “would limit home grow, reduce THC levels and ban the vast majority of vapes — among dozens of other restrictions and changes to what the voters chose.” Although Governor Mike DeWine urged the state House to pass it and send it to his desk, that never happened.
“We’ve gotten past a lot of the fears that many of the senators and the governor’s office had originally — and have gotten to the point where they’re saying ‘Oh, yeah, this is gonna work,’ ” state Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, told the OCR. Callender is also the chair of the JCARR.
