Facility prepares for 1st harvest

About 1,500 medical marijuana plants to be harvested

Buckeye Relief is gearing up for the company’s first harvest of medical marijuana plants.

The company which is located in Eastlake, was the first level one medical marijuana cultivating facility to be operational in Ohio, is now anticipating being the first level one medical marijuana facility in the state to harvest.

Buckeye Relief received the go ahead to grow with its licensing on July 25 and by Aug. 28 had over 50 varieties of plants growing in various stages.

The harvest of about 1,500 plants is expected to begin sometime between Dec. 5 and 10.

After the initial harvest the company will continuously harvest plants in three-week cycles.

Buckeye Relief is one of the businesses still waiting to hear if the state of Ohio approves its

plication for a processor/ extraction license which would allow them to extract oils from the plants to be used in a variety of products such as lotions and edibles.

In the meantime, the company will harvest the flowers from the plants, and dry and package them to sell to Ohio dispensaries.

The company had originally anticipated the product being sent to dispensaries

by the end of December but an extra step requiring every strain to be registered after testing by an independent outside lab could slow the process an extra seven to 10 days. This would delay the medical marijuana flowers being on dispensaries’ shelves until around the second week of January.

“For our first harvest cycle things have gone great,” Buckeye Relief owner Andy Rayburn said. “There have been a few little problems which were all handled, but there have been no major problems.”

“We are just that much closer to having product for patients,” Leslie Brandon, director of communications and community engagements for Buckeye Relief said.

Buckeye Relief currently has 25 full-time employees plus multiple contract workers.

With the start of the harvest approaching, the company will continue to hire new employees through January.

Additional employment information and application procedure can be found on their website.

KRISTI GARABRANDT — THE NEWS-HERALD About 1,500 plants in the adult room at Buckeye Relief, will be harvested between Dec. 5-10 in Eastlake.

KRISTI GARABRANDT — THE NEWS-HERALD Buckeye Relief in Eastlake plans for its first harvest while waiting for approval on its application for a processor/extraction license. Until it finds out if it gets the approval plants will be harvested for the flower portion only. The flowers will be dried, packaged and sent out to dispensaries in Ohio.