There’s now a clearer picture of who will be allowed to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Ohio and where they can be located.
The Board of Pharmacy awarded up to 56 dispensary licenses. 376 companies had applied. Three geographic areas, two in Northeast Ohio and one in Southwest Ohio, will not get a dispensary due to lack of viable applications. But board liaison Ali Simon says that doesn’t mean those areas won’t have dispensaries someday.
“That is something we can look at after the September 8th deadline. We do have the authority to review if there needs to be more licenses allocated on a geographic basis," Simon says.
The licensees are expected to open medical marijuana stores around September 8th – when by law Ohio’s medical marijuana program is set to be fully operational.