Recreational marijuana is coming to Ohio, the question is: How?
Legal marijuana is coming to Ohio one way or another, many industry experts agree. The questions are: will Ohio be ready when it happens and how will it change the state’s existing, heavily-regulated medical program? By: Kevin BarryPosted at 7:21 AM, Sep 13, 2021 and last updated 7:21 AM, Sep 13, 2021
CLEVELAND — Legal marijuana is coming to Ohio one way or another, many industry experts agree. The questions are: will Ohio be ready when it happens and how will it change the state’s existing, heavily-regulated medical program?
At the federal level, Democrats have already introduced the MORE Act, which would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and clear the way to resolve some banking issues that cannabis companies across the nation say they’ve experienced because of cannabis’ dubious legal position.
Ohio is watching two separate paths to adult-use legalization develop, one through the traditional legislative process and the other through an initiated statute by a group called Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol.
Both would legalize the possession of marijuana for personal use for anyone older than 21 years of age, potentially creating a substantial tax revenue stream that doesn’t exist right now.
Here are the main ways each option would change marijuana law in Ohio:
Initiated Statute
End marijuana prohibition Creates the Division of Cannabis Control in the Ohio Department of Commerce for regulation Allows medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries to expand to the adult-use market Creates a Social Equity Fund Proposed Legislation
Allow for cultivation and possession of marijuana Expunge certain marijuana convictions Create a tax on marijuana products Taxes
The initiated statute would use 36% of the tax on cannabis products to create the Cannabis Social Equity and Jobs Fund, providing assistance to people who meet certain criteria to help them get into the recreational marijuana industry.
The legislation’s proposed tax would help fund education, road and bridges maintenance, and fund marijuana research.
How did we get here?
Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program was created by House Bill 523, which took effect on September 8, 2016.
After some licensing delays, four dispensaries opened on January 16, 2019.
Medical marijuana patients wait for The Forest Sandusky to open in 2019. Soon after, Laura DeAngelis became a medical marijuana patient to treat the chronic pain she struggles with because of her fibromyalgia.
“[Medical Marijuana] has helped me so much so that I’m able to get out of the house, move around, where I would be stuck in bed-rest for days,” said DeAngelis.
DeAngelis uses medical marijuana to battle chronic pain. The issue in her first two years as a patient is that there aren’t many dispensaries near her home around Geneva-on-the-Lake, the price is high when she can get to a dispensary, and Ohio’s medical product supply is sometimes unpredictable.
“I buy [medical marijuana edibles] in bulk because the local dispensary is about 40 minutes away so it’s kind of hard to me to get out there all the time,” said DeAngelis.
If Ohio legalizes marijuana for adults, existing medical marijuana businesses would be able to switch to the recreational market pretty quickly. Her hope is that even as a medical patient, she’d benefit from legalized marijuana in Ohio. In other states, that move often results in more dispensaries, more product selection, and lower prices.
“I think she’s exactly right and that’s generally the intent of transitioning into an adult-use market,” said cannabis attorney and Frantz Ward LLP Partner Tom Haren, who represents some of Ohio’s medical marijuana companies and also the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol.
If either proposed legislation becomes law, Ohio’s existing medical marijuana businesses would have a sizable advantage because they would be able to instantly shift their operations to create products for the recreational market. Other businesses would be allowed to go through an application process to get additional marijuana licenses, but that process and building their facilities would take time.
Haren says the current ballot initiative takes best practices in other states into account to create an adult use market in Ohio. “What we wanted to ensure is that when the program launches, we have product available in the market because if you don’t do that, then it is not really a meaningful alternative to the unregulated [illegal] market,” said Haren.
Geoff Korff’s cannabis business, Galenas, started in Ohio and expanded to Michigan’s recreational market during the pandemic. He’s allowed to have a much larger operation in Michigan because different state laws, he says, fosters a much more robust legal market.
Korff has already been looking to expand his medical marijuana cultivation facility and says he would need to expand even more if adult use becomes law in Ohio. “Ultimately, what happens in the Michigan market is there’s a lot more supply, demand is still high, so prices are comfortable for everyone,” said Korff.
While the eventual shift from medical-only to adult-use could be lucrative, Haren says it wasn’t always something companies were willing to depend on.
“I think there were certainly some companies that looked at Ohio’s medical program and were thinking five or 10 or four years down the road, to eventual adult-use,” said Haren, pointing out that many of them also were simply focused on helping Ohio medical marijuana patients because legalization wasn’t as inevitable as it seems to be in 2021.
Galenas is a Level II Cultivator, the smaller of Ohio’s two cultivation levels. Level I Cultivators can build up to 25,000 square feet of growing space, Level II Cultivators can build up to 3,000 square feet. Licenses are supposed to be able to apply to build more space but that process has been slow in the program's first few years.
If the initiated statute becomes law, the bigger growers would be able to expand to 100,000 square feet and the smaller growers could expand to 15,000 square feet, which Korff fears wouldn’t be enough to keep up with a rapidly expanding recreational use market.
“It’s an advantage being a first mover, but at the same time, we’ve got a relatively small operation here,” said Korff. “In order to really compete in an adult-use market, we have to grow this business pretty significantly.”
Korff says that ability to compete matters because while all medical marijuana operations have to employ local people in local facilities right now, his business is headquartered in Akron. Other cannabis companies have individual state operations to follow state laws, but are often based elsewhere.
“If you allow those small businesses to grow, the money stays home,” said Korff. “If you allow big businesses to grow often times that means the money is going elsewhere.”
All of Galenas' plants are grown to be turned into raw flower and sent to Ohio medical marijuana dispensaries. Haren points out that larger growers would only be able to quadruple their space while smaller growers can quintuple theirs and that those numbers are just starting guidelines, with the potential to be expanded later on. He also says at a moment when the cannabis industry is getting larger and trying to standardize practices and build trust with consumers, larger national companies can help do that in the same way consumers know and trust national brands in other industries.
“We’re still building the industry here in Ohio so there’s a lot of great perspectives that these companies bring from other states,” said Haren.
It’s a trust that Laura DeAngelis already has and wants to see other people develop too in a recreational program in Ohio.
“I would love to see it,” said DeAngelis.
How it could happen
The bill that would legalize adult-use marijuana in Ohio is House Bill 382 from Representatives Upchurch and Weinstein.
The federal legislation that has the most momentum appears to be the MORE Act.
The initiated statute is gathering signatures to send their language to the Ohio legislature right now. If the legislature doesn’t take action on the bill, organizers could gather more signatures and put the issue on the ballot in Ohio as early as November 2022.
Well I hope to hell they allow OHIOANS that consume to buy guns then. Can't believe that an Ohio medical marijuana card currently keeps you from buying a gun...
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
hopefully it will be cheaper than it is here in IL
I know. This government controled INDUSTRY turns out some high-quality socialist buds, but too many fingers in there after their slice of the pie. And with this $15 NOT minimum wage hike in employee expenses we will probably pay more for those quality buds than the street dirt dealers used to sell.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 09/13/2104:04 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
hopefully it will be cheaper than it is here in IL
I know. This government controled INDUSTRY turns out some high-quality socialist buds, but too many fingers in there after their slice of the pie. And with this $15 NOT minimum wage hike in employee expenses we will probably pay more for those quality buds than the street dirt dealers used to sell.
Yeah, I know in other states the prices have gone done, with the surplus going up. I hope it happens here. I am lucky to have a hookup so that I don't have to get my flower from a dispensary, but I would love to be able to have the options that you can get in a store.
Well I hope to hell they allow OHIOANS that consume to buy guns then. Can't believe that an Ohio medical marijuana card currently keeps you from buying a gun...
There is an question on the background check that asks if you use illegal drugs, and marijuana is illegal. Having any medical marijuana card means you have to answer yes, and that disqualifies you from purchasing guns.
Trust me, I understand that but it's stupid. I have never heard of anyone smoking pot and going on a shooting spree. They give guns to head cases and militia terrorist but a pothead is a step to far? BS.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 09/18/2107:48 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Recreational marijuana is coming to Ohio, the question is: How?
My guess would be ziplock bags in the back of a seedy white van.
Or in Amazon Prime Drone Weed Drop boxes. Bezos would have growers peeing in cups to make sure we got the most profitable weed in the business delivered to our front doors... or the neighbors.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Recreational marijuana is coming to Ohio, the question is: How?
My guess would be ziplock bags in the back of a seedy white van.
Or in Amazon Prime Drone Weed Drop boxes. Bezos would have growers peeing in cups to make sure we got the most profitable weed in the business delivered to our front doors... or the neighbors.
Well OCD, as the old saying goes, "you asked for it you got it, TOYOTA"!!!
Amazon is lobbying the US government to make pot legal Ben Gilbert 2 hours ago
Amazon is lobbying the US government to legalize cannabis, the company announced Tuesday.
The company ended pre-employment drug testing earlier this year and said it supports national legalization. Amazon's warehouse employees have a high turnover rate, and national legalization could help with hiring. 10 Things in Politics: The latest in politics & the economy
Amazon is actively lobbying the United States government to federally legalize cannabis, the company announced on Tuesday morning.
"Given our previous support for legalizing cannabis at the federal level, as well as expunging certain criminal records and investing in impacted businesses and communities, Amazon recently announced our support for, and began actively lobbying on, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act)," the company said. "We are also pleased to endorse the recently introduced Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act."
Both bills aim to remove cannabis from the federal list of "Schedule 1" drugs, which includes LSD and heroin, and to enable some level of national legalization.
Amazon first announced support for federal cannabis legalization back in June.
At the same time, Amazon consumer CEO Dave Clark said the company would no longer screen potential employees for cannabis use as a condition of hiring.
"In the past, like many employers, we've disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use," Clark said. "However, given where state laws are moving across the US, we've changed course."
Amazon warehouse employees, which make up the majority of Amazon's vast workforce, have a notoriously high turnover rate at the company: Around 150%, according to a New York Times report earlier this year. Hiring new employees to replace outgoing ones is a big enough problem that some Amazon executives worry the company will run out of hirable Americans.
Notably, Amazon said on Tuesday that part of the reason it's pushing for legalization is to make hiring a bit easier.
"We've found that eliminating pre-employment testing for cannabis allows us to expand our applicant pool," Amazon senior VP of human resources Beth Galetti said.
Amazon has already spent at least $5 million on lobbying efforts, according to records reviewed by Insider, alongside over 160 other groups that lobbied the government in favor of legal cannabis in the second quarter of 2021.
Daughter makes $16.50 an hour as a nurses aid. Going to get an additional 96 hours over a month, at reg. rate PLUS $17 per hour for those additional 96 hours.
Daughter makes $16.50 an hour as a nurses aid. Going to get an additional 96 hours over a month, at reg. rate PLUS $17 per hour for those additional 96 hours.
Nurses are earning every penny of what they are being paid. The challenge becomes the number hours that take their toll, mentally and physically.
Arch, hopefully your daughter will do her best to pace herself so she doesn't face burnout, working those 12 to 16 hour shifts.
New Ohio marijuana legalization bill drafted by Republican lawmaker
"As a society, we’ve reached a point where it's not the taboo thing it used to be," said state Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord.
FRED SQUILLANTE/THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH JACKIE BORCHARDT | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER | 1 hour ago
COLUMBUS - Ohio lawmakers soon will have a second marijuana legalization proposal in front of them, and this one will come from a Republican.
The forthcoming bill, sponsored by Concord Republican Rep. Jamie Callender, is similar to other proposals in that it would build on the state's existing medical marijuana program.
Current medical marijuana cultivators, processors and dispensary owners would be allowed to operate on the recreational side, Callender said in an interview. Adults age 21 and older could buy, possess and grow marijuana.
The bill also would provide a way for Ohioans convicted of marijuana crimes eliminated in the bill to have their records sealed or expunged.
"As a society, we’ve reached a point where it's not the taboo thing it used to be," Callender said.
Callender says "three or four" Republicans support his bill, but legislative leaders and Gov. Mike DeWine do not. Callender said he got a "diplomatic" response from House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima. Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said recently he's opposed to legalization.
"I was opposed to it when it was on the ballot," Huffman told USA TODAY Network Ohio in August, referring to an unsuccessful 2015 constitutional amendment. "I am opposed to it now."
Yet Callender thinks now is a better time than ever before for a bill to pass. A pair of Democrats introduced a legalization bill over the summer. And an industry-backed proposal could be on the ballot next year.
In Callender's plan, sales tax would be applied to recreational marijuana sales, with half of proceeds going to the state's general revenue fund and the other half split between law enforcement and mental health and addiction treatment. Ohio adults could grow a small number of marijuana plants at home. Callender hasn't settled on a number, but he's leaning toward three.
Similar to the other two proposals, Callender's bill would give oversight of the new industry to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Callender plans to unveil more details about the bill at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
This story will be updated.
Jackie Borchardt is the bureau chief for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
Three years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms by Daniel Myran , The Conversation
3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms Number of Cannabis Stores and Monthly Legal Cannabis Spending in Canada Between November 2018 and April 2021. Sales data from Statistics Canada and stores data from Myran et al 2021. Credit: Daniel Myran, Author provided
The three-year anniversary of the legalization of recreational, or non-medical, cannabis in Canada arrives on Oct. 17. It also marks the start of the government of Canada's mandated review of its health impacts.
Unfortunately, the slow roll-out of Canada's cannabis retail market combined with the glacial speed of academic research means everything you and the government will be hearing about the health effects of legalization is based on outdated and often irrelevant data.
There are three key limitations of our understanding of legalization's health impact.
First, almost all studies to date examining the impact of legalization on cannabis use and harms have only looked at changes during the first year following legalization.
Yes, these results are reassuring: small increases in cannabis use across Canada, and modest or no increases in ER visits or hospitalizations due to cannabis in Ontario, Alberta and Québec. However, we need to keep in mind that the transition from cannabis being illegal to being widely available for legal purchase and use is not a switch that was flipped overnight.
Remember, Ontario did not have a single legal cannabis store for the first six months after legalization, Québec had just 14 and the rest of the country didn't do much better. The limited stores that were open often didn't have much cannabis to sell due to major product shortages.
But the cannabis retail market looks very different today. I lead a team that has tracked the enormous growth in the number of cannabis stores since legalization. Our current data show more than a 10-fold increase in stores between November 2018 and April 2021 (from 158 to 1,792).
During the same time, Canadians increased the amount they spend a month on legal cannabis by 428 percent, to $9.50 per person aged 15 and older from $1.80. Ontario currently has so many authorized cannabis stores—1,175 of them—that experts predict major store closures.
Data from Statistics Canada suggest that the maturing market may be starting to impact overall cannabis use. For the first year-and-half post-legalization, the legal market expansion essentially matched illegal market contraction. However, since early 2020, increases in legal sales have dramatically outpaced decreases in illegal sales, resulting in increased overall spending.
Second, many types of cannabis products, including commercially produced edibles such as THC-containing candies, desserts and drinks, only became available for sale in January 2020. These types of products have been implicated in large increases in cannabis poisonings in young children in the United States. One study in Alberta reported increases in cannabis poisonings in children following legalization. However, the study did not examine the time period after commercial edibles were introduced—the exact time we would expect the biggest increases, based on the U.S. experience.
3 years after legalization, we have shockingly little information about how it changed cannabis use and health harms Estimated Quarterly spending ($Billion CAD) on medical and non-medical cannabis in Canada between January 2016 and June 2021. Net cannabis sales increased only 4.3 per cent in the first year after legalization (Q3 2018 to Q3 2019) but increased 32.4 per cent by Q2 2021 (Q3 2018 to Q2 2021). Sales data from Statistics Canada. Credit: Daniel Myran, Author provided
So while current studies support that there was no increase in harms in the initial months of a heavily restricted and limited retail market, we have almost no data on the health impacts of our current, far more mature, cannabis market.
The little that we know is concerning. While the number of people who use cannabis almost every day in Canada didn't increase much immediately after legalization, by late 2020 it was up 46 percent (5.4 percent in early 2018, 6.1 percent in early 2019, and 7.9 percent in late 2020).
An estimated 16.3 percent of Canadians aged 18-24 years now report near daily cannabis use, an increase of 65 percent since legalization. Emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to cannabis in Canada are also up eight percent and five percent respectively, between 2019 and 2020.
Which brings us to the third limitation. For anyone thinking, "Hold on, what about the COVID-19 pandemic?" you're right, it's a major problem. Over half of the time since legalization has been during the pandemic.
There is no easy way to separate the effects of the pandemic versus a maturing cannabis market on the recent increases in cannabis use. More data is coming—the federal government has invested millions of dollars in research—but we will need to wait to see those results.
The legalization of recreational cannabis, which has resulted in major reductions in social harms such as heavily discriminatory police charges for cannabis offenses, has had major public health benefits.
My concern is that an increasingly commercialized cannabis market may lead to increases in cannabis use and harms. Groups with financial interests in selling cannabis are already claiming that current regulations such as cannabis taxes, child-resistant packaging and restrictions on cannabis advertising including on social media, are restricting innovation. They argue these must be updated—meaning removed or reduced—to compete with the illicit market.
During the upcoming regulatory review we need to remember these regulations were thoughtfully put in place. Decades of alcohol and tobacco research, and emerging cannabis-specific evidence, suggest these measures are highly effective at reducing cannabis use in youth and young adults.
The federal government recommends that people start low and go slow to avoid potential adverse effects from cannabis. The rapid expansion of the cannabis retail market over the last year is the regulatory equivalent of our country having ingested a very large cannabis edible for the first time. We have no idea how high we are about to get. While we wait to find out it probably is not a great idea to have another edible.
My advice to the government during the upcoming review is to listen to their own recommendations and go slow on any changes in cannabis regulations.
Medical marijuana users say Ohio prices are too high Patrick Cooley The Columbus Dispatch
Nearly three years after the first medical marijuana dispensary opened in Ohio, slightly over half of the state’s marijuana card holders say they are dissatisfied with the program.
Those are the results of a late September report prepared by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, which tracks the state’s medicinal cannabis program.
The group sent survey questions to 1,402 patients and prospective patients — 1,326 responded — who reported a common complaint: Medical pot is too expensive.
Recreational marijuana in Ohio: Legalization measure gets boost as attorney general OKs language for law
“This program still needs a lot of work,” said Angelica Warren, a patient and activist who lives in Westerville.
Some costs have fallen, Warren acknowledged, but said prices for some manufactured products are “increasingly outrageous.”
“In other states, I can find a gram of concentrate for $15, yet Ohio has more than quadrupled that price amount,” Warren said.
Medical marijuana: Why is it so expensive in Ohio? Prices for the drug — while lower than in January 2019 when Ohio's first dispensary opened — have largely defied predictions that costs would become affordable as the program matured.
However, plans to award more dispensary licenses and let cultivators grow more cannabis have industry insiders optimistic.
“It will provide a lot more product, and quite possibly it will bring prices down,” said Tim Johnson, founder of the Hilliard-based Cannabis Safety First security and consulting company.
Marijuana cultivators are lobbying the state to loosen square footage restrictions that hamstring their ability to profit from their crops. Experts and patient advocates say patients have heard that promise before.
“When you compare the first few months of 2019 to now, prices have definitely gotten lower,” said Jana Hrdinova, the drug policy center's administrative director. “But if you look at the last 18, 24 months, prices have not budged.”
More dispensaries opened and more cultivators grew cannabis in that time, she noted.
The length of time before the most recent changes result in lower dispensary prices is an open question. The more dispensary license applicants, the longer it takes to approve them, said Cameron McNamee, a spokesperson for the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, which over sees dispensaries. And getting a dispensary up and running can take anywhere from a few months to a few years.
"That being said, we are hopeful our new drawing process, which does not rely on scoring each application, but rather a review of each application to ensure it meets the standards set forth in rule, will reduce the turnaround time," McNamee said.
In June, the last month for which figures were available, a gram of marijuana flower cost around $11. That’s down from around $17 per gram when the state’s program began in earnest in 2019.
The cost of manufactured products like tinctures, oils, and vaping devices are more difficult to gauge because they vary widely between brands and dispensaries offer discounts to certain groups of patients.
Marijuana producers in Ohio say high prices are a 'myth'. Industry officials defend their prices. Larry Pegram, who owns Pure Ohio Wellness, a company with cultivation, processing, and dispensary licenses, said Ohio’s costs are lower than other nearby states like Pennsylvania, a notion supported by the policy center’s study.
Baby marijuana plants at Pure Ohio Wellness in Springfield. Marijuana cultivators are lobbying the state to loosen square footage restrictions that hamstring their ability to profit from their crops. “It’s a bit of a myth now that prices are higher in Ohio,” he said. “Unfortunately you have folks complaining about prices who have been buying on the black market for many years, and that price is going to be considerably lower than what we can do.”
State officials see a lot to like in the drug policy center’s report, noting widespread trust in the safety of Ohio’s medicinal cannabis products.
“The paper also notes that medical marijuana prices in Ohio are significantly lower than in Pennsylvania, another medical-only state in the region,” a commerce department spokesperson said in a statement.
Ohio limits the square footage on which cultivators can grow cannabis, dividing growers into two tiers. The first is allowed 25,000 square feet of canopy space, and the second is permitted 3,000.
The bifurcated system is intended to let smaller operators with fewer resources get a foothold in the industry.
“It was considerably more money to build the facility, and considerably more assets required to get it, and it was definitely a more competitive process to get the license,” said Larry Pegram, who owns Pure Ohio Wellness, which operates a 25,000-square-foot cultivation site near Springfield.
Cultivators, however, have long complained that the restrictions hobble their business. The right to ask for more square footage came after lengthy discussions between state officials and industry groups.
“We've been really hamstrung over the last two years,” said Tom Hobson, CEO of FN Group Holdings, which operates Wellspring Fields, a 3,000-square-foot cultivation site in Ravenna in northeast Ohio. “We can't produce enough.”
Could moves to increase Ohio marijuana cultivation, dispensaries actually increase prices? Last month, the commerce department unveiled an application process cultivators can use to double their square footage. Growers have to meet a handful of criteria, such as proving they’ve used all of the space they were previously allowed. The state’s medical marijuana law, which passed in 2016, lets state officials loosen square footage restrictions when the feel it is appropriate.
Companies like Pure Ohio invested millions to get established in Ohio’s medical marijuana industry, and expanding their growing space should bring prices down by letting them recoup some of that investment, Pegram said. “We need to get to 50,000 to make money", he said.
Some in the industry worry the move comes too late. The new application process follows a move to more than double the number of dispensary licenses. Ohio has 58 licensed dispensaries, and the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, which oversees dispensaries, will take applications for another 73 in November.
Cultivators have trouble supplying enough product for the processors and dispensaries currently operating, and doubling growing space while more than doubling the number of dispensaries puts Ohio “a little bit behind the 8 ball on this,” Hobson said.
Cresco Labs, which has a cultivation site near Yellow Springs, plans to use every bit of the 50,000 square feet it can apply for, said Max Salinger, vice president of technical cultivation. “We’re looking at adding close to 140 jobs,” he said. The company grows marijuana in other states, but can’t transport its products across state lines because the drug is still illegal under federal law.
Industry officials like to cite basic economics when asked about dispensary prices. Greater supply of product should push down prices, according to the laws of supply and demand. Early in the program, that appeared to be the case, as dispensary costs gradually dropped, but the sticker prices hit a floor around 18 months ago, Hrdinova said.
Regardless of price, the expansion should also give patients more options, industry officials said. “We’re really hoping to be able to use our space to continue to introduce new strains,” Salinger said. Gummies, oils, tinctures and vape pens, are just a few of the products available at Ohio dispensaries, and Salinger said Cresco wants to boost its own offerings.
Patients often complain about finding the right strains, said Johnson, who is a medical marijuana cardholder. More growing space could improve the situation, he said. Although he stressed that products currently available in most dispensaries offer plenty of variety.
Two products “can have a very, very close profile even if they've got different strain names,” he said. Hrdinova noted that Ohio, over the past year and a half, changed the program in smaller ways which are popular with patients, allowing online ordering and curbside pickup.
“The price is always the driving thing in the media coverage, but don't discount the fact that the state has made changes that seem to be increasing satisfaction,” she said.
Ohio's medical marijuana program is just about as convoluted as it's wholesale alcohol protocols. I could put monkeys in a room and get better results.
Funny how the talking heads will blame the black market and compare it's prices to Pennsylvania... but fail to mention that Xichigan prices are literally half.
I never renewed after the first year. My "marijuana doctor" recognized, and got me approved for, "chronic pain", verified by a long history of kidney stones. That visit is $250, I had no idea that I had to visit and pay $250 every year... plus another $50 each year to renew my license. Soooo... $300 out of the gate each year for the privilege of paying double?? I was born at night...
Then the "daily dose" as prescribed by the powers that be is 1/10 of an ounce or 2.84 grams. In other words they'll sell me pounds of marijuana every year. Problem is, they started with an even more convoluted process for calculating what you're allowed to buy. Your allowable limit is split into 90 day intervals and basically prorated day by day. In other words, if my fill period starts on Jan 1, I can purchase 9 ounces on the first day... but if I wait til March 29, even if I never made a purchase during the previous 89 days, I would only be allowed to purchase 2.83 grams, if I were to purchase more than that under those circumstances I would be fined and possibly lose my license. Makes sense right? So now you need to walk around with a slide-rule and an accounting firm to know what you're allowed to purchase. They actually changed that after about 18 months... to an equally stupid protocol that is at least a little easier to understand.
And yes, those that "got in on the ground floor" had to pay a fortune in fees. It's fair to assume they would like to recoup those costs... Ohio responds by restricting square footage and production protocols to make that a basic impossibility.
Ohio politics, always the poster child for "I did it my way". I have little confidence that things will change much even if recreational passes.
PSSSttt bro find a Family DR who is licensed for Marijuana. My Family Doc is licensed for Marijuana. My co pay per visit is ZERO. It does not cost me a penny to see him all year long.
Reforming marijuana laws before the holidays: A three-pronged approach BY JUSTIN STREKAL, October 27, 2021 - 09:31 AM EDT
Legalize and Regulate: That is the popular consensus in the United States when it comes to how Congress should reform federal marijuana laws.
Forty-four percent of Americans currently live in a state that has legalized it already under state statute. Poll after poll finds that a supermajority of Americans, including outright majorities of Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters, support the full legalization of cannabis for adult use. In fact, Pew Research recently reported that 91 percent of voters oppose federal cannabis criminalization, with only 8 percent supporting the status quo.
At this moment, both chambers of Congress are well-positioned to move forward with bipartisan cannabis proposals ahead of the holiday break. By doing so, members have a unique opportunity these next few weeks to advance a policy issue that drives conversations at the family dinner table in a manner that bridges traditional partisan divides.
Put simply: Marijuana is popular; Congress is not. Passing marijuana policy reform is something members can do today to increase their favorability among voters of all political ideologies.
There are three abundantly clear paths that Congress could take to comprehensively overhaul our nation's failed experiment with prohibition — each of which could be accomplished before Congress goes into recess.
Appropriations
Since 2014, members of Congress have passed the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations package with a provision protecting those who engage in the state-sanctioned use and dispensing of medical cannabis from federal prosecution by the Department of Justice. The existing language maintains that federal funds cannot be used to prevent states from "implementing their own laws authorizing the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana."
In the previous session of Congress, the House took action to expand these protections. Known as the bipartisan Blumenauer-McClintock-Norton-Lee amendment, the House sought to remove the word "medical" from the current language — thus extending these legal protections to both qualified patients and to adults, as well as to those licensed to participate in both the medical and adult-use industries. This language passed the House twice, with nearly every Democrat voting in favor and with 25 percent of the Republican caucus also advancing it.
That’s it. All it takes is the removal of one word from the existing language and the federal government will be unable to interfere with any state’s marijuana legalization program.
When members of the two chambers come together in the conference committee to iron out the spending details, it would be appropriate for them to expand the existing protections by enacting the Blumenauer-McClintock-Norton-Lee amendment.
SAFE Banking
The recently House-passed National Defense Authorization Act funding package includes the provisions of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE Banking Act), which allows state-licensed marijuana-related businesses to engage freely in relationships with banks and other financial institutions.
This provision was passed on a voice vote in a bipartisan fashion as an amendment to the bill by Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Steve Stivers (R-Ohio).
Currently, tens of thousands of state-licensed cannabis businesses are unable to partner with the banking industry due to federal prohibition. This means they are unable to accept credit cards, deposit revenues, access loans, or write checks to meet payroll or pay taxes.
This situation is untenable as no industry can operate safely, transparently, or effectively without access to banks or other financial institutions. If enacted, state-legal marijuana programs and businesses would be able to operate more efficiently and entrepreneurs would have more access to capital streams, which would remove one of the biggest hurdles that currently prevent small businesses from being able to get a foothold in this new industry. Under the current climate, most of the credit being extended to smaller operators comes with strings attached to it, such as partial ownership agreements — making the environment more akin to a modern-day share-cropping scheme than a functional free market.
The recent amendment vote marked the fifth time that House members have advanced SAFE Banking legislation in the last two years and now its fate will be decided as part of the conference committee process.
Given that House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) is a cosponsor of the bill and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) represents a medical state which may pass a bill allowing adult use by the end of the year, it would be an appropriate step to take to enact SAFE Banking as swiftly as possible via inclusion in the final NDAA package.
The MORE Act
Members of the House Judiciary Committee recently advanced the Marijuana, Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, which would repeal marijuana prohibition. The MORE Act does so by removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, thereby ending the existing state/federal conflict in cannabis policies and providing state governments with greater authority to regulate marijuana-related activities — including retail sales, facilitating the expungement of low-level marijuana convictions, and incentivizing state and local governments to create pathways for ownership opportunities in the emerging industry for local and diversely-reflective entrepreneurs who have been impacted under prohibition through Small Business Administration grant eligibility.
The bill has a legislative record of success, passing the full House last December with a bipartisan vote of 228-164 and is well-positioned to pass the full chamber yet again should it be given a floor vote by House leadership.
Given that Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have released their own draft proposal to repeal prohibition, which largely includes the MORE Act, it would be prudent for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), along with Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) to again pass the act and demonstrate to the American public that congressional leadership can be responsive to the public’s overwhelming desire to see cannabis legalized.
Ultimately, it would be political malpractice for congressional leadership to deny the opportunity for these conversations to bring aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives together on an issue they all agree with: Legalizing marijuana.
Justin Strekal is the political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), where he serves as an advocate to end the federal criminalization and prohibition of marijuana. Twitter: @justinstrekal.
By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State officials have ruled that a group trying to fully legalize marijuana in Ohio through a possible ballot measure has fallen short in collecting required petition signatures, which means the group now has a little more than a week to collect thousands of valid new, signatures from state voters.
In a Monday letter, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted 119,825 valid signatures, compared to the 132,887 signatures required under state law.
The whole initiative was seemingly shrouded in mystery. I'll tell you what, I feel smarter everyday as we are surrounded by exponential growth in stupidity.
My son and I both scoured the web back when this started. We found nothing to point us in the right direction. Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol had no website or FB page either. They probably sent maskless stoners out to knock on doors. I would have had a Cheech and Chong van with Spicoli on a loudspeaker.
on the first day... but if I wait til March 29, 
Either that or acquire enough second-hand signatures to bowl straight through the opposition.
