NOT FOR POT

Lawsuits, licensing and production delays push back Ohio’s medical marijuana launch.

Ohio’s medical marijuana program was supposed to be “fully operational” by this weekend dispensaries — open, patients registered, labs operating.

But lawsuits, construction delays and other problems piled up, and the Sept. 8 deadline carved into Ohio law passed on Saturday without a single legal bud being available for patients.

“I hope they get it straightened out soon so people can benefit from it,” said Alanna Sage, 64, a medical marijuana patient in California before moving back to Dayton last year.

The delays are understandable given all the legal hurdles involved, said Mark Hamlin, senior advisor in the Ohio

Department of Commerce, one of three state agencies regulating an industry that is

being built from scratch. The other two joint regulators are the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and the State Medical Board of Ohio.

“It is a brand new industry and it’s a very complicated industry to stand up,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin admitted there have been challenges — three major lawsuits, application scoring errors, 67 administrative appeals and intense competition for a limited number of licenses. The state agreed to issue an extra cultivator license after errors were discovered in the scoring. Through it all, state officials have been focused on building a program that will ensure that safe, reliable products will be available for patients over the long haul, he said.

“It’s gone from words on a page to now you have actual brick and mortar businesses being stood up and running,” Hamlin said of the program’s infancy. “And you’ve got employees being hired, you’ve got cultivators growing marijuana in Ohio — legally. You can really see on a horizon when patients are going to be able to walk into a dispensary and purchase medical marijuana.”

The first cultivator to get the go-ahead from the state — Buckeye Relief in Eastlake, Ohio — estimates it will harvest product by December and have it on dispensary shelves just after the first of the year.

For some people, the twoyears-and-running window between program launch and having product available has been a frustration.

Lorrie Callahan of West Milton has used both cannabis and cannabidiol, or CBD, for more than two years to reduce chronic pain from multiple sclerosis.

Callahan, 42, said the program “is getting there, but patients are still stuck in the meantime.”

“I don’t want them to be left behind,” Callahan said. “Patients started all of this. They started the movement.”

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy recently announced that CBD oil, or any other marijuana product, can only be dispensed by a licensed medical marijuana dispensary — none of which are yet open. Currently, CBD oil is sold in stores across Ohio.

Calahan said she is angry with the decision about CBD oil. “This is something I need in my life. I’d rather do this than be on a crap load of pharmaceuticals.”

Cresco Labs is building a large scale cultivation operation in Yellow Springs and plans to plant seeds within 72 hours of getting its operations certificate, said Charlie Bachtell, Cresco’s co-founder and chief executive. Product is expected to be harvested about 120 days later.

“I think the Ohio program is set up for success for all of the stakeholders involved. The stakeholders include the general public, potential patients, the administration, the regulators and the operators. I think it’s a very well balanced, professional, highly regulated, compliance-focused program,” Bachtell said.

Cresco has hired 10 workers so far — a number that is expected to increase to 90 if and when the company gets processor and dispensary licenses, Bachtell said.

He added that growing pains while the industry gets underway in Ohio should be expected; the second six-month period will likely be more smooth than the first six months.

Hamlin said Ohio’s medical marijuana industry will look a lot different a year from now. More businesses will be operating, the dispensaries will be open and the program will have a different vibe.

“I think you’ll see it on a different scale and I think some of the novelty of the industry will have worn off,” he said.

TY GREENLEES / STAFF Cresco Labs Ohio is in the final stages of construction in Yellow Springs. It is building a 50,000-square-foot facility for the cultivation and processing of medical marijuana after receiving a grow license from the State of Ohio in 2017. If the facility passes state inspection, it could be producing marijuana as early as October.

CHRIS STEWART / STAFF A provisional license for a marijuana dispensary was granted to Pure Ohio Wellness at 1875 Needmore Rd. in Dayton. The company was given two dispensary licenses, including one for a dispensary at 1711 West Main St. in Springfield.

CONTRIBUTED This architectural rendering shows what the dispensary rooms in the Strawberry Fields medical marijuana dispensaries in Dayton and Monroe may look like.

CHRIS STEWART / STAFF A provisional license for a marijuana dispensary was granted to CannAscend Alternative at 333 Wayne Ave., in Dayton’s Oregon Historic District.

CHRIS STEWART / STAFF Alanna Sage, who was a medical marijuana patient when she lived in California, fears Ohio’s program will cost too much for some who need it.