The chair of the rulemaking committee for Ohio’s Department of Cannabis Control says that recreational marijuana sales may begin as soon as June, and will happen “certainly before July 4th weekend”.
Due to voters approving Issue 2 in November, those 21 and older are legally allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and up to 15 grams of marijuana concentrates. However, there is currently no legal method to obtain marijuana, with licensed marijuana sales initially expected to begin sometime in the fall. Now, it appears recreational marijuana sales will begin much sooner, potentially in June.
According to State Representative Jamie Callender (R-Concord), Chair of the Joint Committee On Agency Rule Review (JCARR), the committee plans to accept proposed regulations that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to begin selling recreational marijuana in just a couple months.
“We could have retailers, recreational licensed retailers, in Ohio by mid-June,” Callender told News 5 Cleveland, an ABC affiliate. “We should begin to see legal recreational sales of marijuana in Ohio certainly before July 4th weekend.”
Callender says the plan is set to be accepted during a May 13 meeting.
“The distribution of retail sites — they are already in existence for medical — will be able to get a dual license”, he says. “The application will be available, absent a problem in JCARR, which I don’t anticipate, prior to June 7th.”
Callender says the application process will be easy to become a dual facility, given medical dispensaries have already gone through a licensing process that’s likely to be similar to what’s established for the recreational market. Callender said it could take as little as a week to approve applications.
Under Issue 2, which was approved 57% to 43%, the Division of Cannabis Control is tasked with handling the licensing and regulations for the new marijuana industry. Issue 2 mandates the agency to issue up to 350 marijuana business licenses, with a mandate that they issue at least 50.
