Growers must sprint after permit granted
It’s spring planting time in Ohio, but companies hoping to dive into the business of growing medical marijuana must wait months to put crops into the ground.
It appears that it will be a mad rush to get medical marijuana to customers by September 2018, as is anticipated in House Bill 523, a state law that took effect on Sept. 8, 2016.
The state will begin accepting applications May 22 for permits limited to 24 growers statewide. The law will allow Level 1 growers to cultivate up to 25,000 square feet of marijuana, with potential expansions to 50,000 and 75,000 square feet; Level 2 growers may cultivate up to 3,000 square feet of marijuana, potentially expanding to 6,000 square feet. Applications for small permits must be submitted by June 16; large-permit applications are due by June 30.
The state plans to approve 12 applications in each size; applicants must pay nonrefundable permit fees of $20,000 for large growers and $2,000 for small growers.
Once approved, applicants must rapidly build indoor growing facilities with lighting, heating, cooling and security systems. Processing facilities must be approved and built to turn the raw marijuana into an oil, tincture, edible, patch or plant material that can be vaped but not smoked.
The marijuana products will be tested and sent to any of 60 dispensaries across the state.
“It’s a very aggressive schedule,” said Ian James, a Columbus businessman and veteran marijuana advocate. James’ company, CannAscend Ohio, plans to seek a growing license to build a $40 million, 25,000-squarefoot medical-marijuana facility on 19.2 acres near the Wilmington Air Park in Wilmington in Clinton County. CannAscend also will seek to expand its grow facility to 50,000 square feet and then 75,000 square feet, as permitted by law, while also applying for a productmanufacturing license and research facility to assemble a “cannabis campus.”
James said he expects his company, if approved, to generate 300 jobs, ranging from cultivation workers to researchers.
The law will allow people with any of 21 specified diseases or conditions to get a recommendation — it’s not a prescription — from a doctor to purchase the marijuana.
Two other companies besides James’ have surfaced as possible applicants: Black Elk, a Westerville-based biotech company that plans a growing facility near Athens, and Big Game Capital of Chagrin Falls, which anticipates building a growing facility in Eastlake in Lake County.
State officials said they don’t know how many applicants to expect, but it could be a lot. Pennsylvania officials were flooded last month with more than 500 applications for permits for new medical-marijuana growing and dispensing operations. The Ohio applicants will be reviewed as “blind applications,” with identifiable information removed to assure fairness in the selection process.
Successful Ohio bidders will pay a $200,000 annual fee for a large-cultivator license and a $20,000 fee for a small-cultivator license.
Proposed rules for physicians, marijuana processors, testing facilities, patients and caregivers are in the review process. All rules must be finalized by September.
The rules are online at medicalmarijuana.ohio.gov/ rules.