Ohio Marijuana | OH Marijuana Ohio Marijuana Information and News
Ohio regulators finished writing up the rules for Ohio’s medical marijuana program a month ahead of schedule. The program will start very small and will be tightly regulated. As the patient base grows, the program will also grow.
There were no objections to the rules proposed by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, according to Cleveland.com. These rules will take effect in August. The state is in the process of reviewing the 185 applications submitted for cultivators and will have to decide who to award the allotted 24 licenses to.
It may still be a year before the first dispensary opens. There are 21 qualifying conditions approved by the state. The program has to be rolled out within two years.
Patients will not be able to grow at home and will not have access to any smokable forms of medical marijuana.
Patient rules include:
- $50 annual registration fee
- 50% fee discount for veterans and those receiving disability
- 90-day supply approval at a time
- Patients can purchase up to 8-ounces in a 90-day supply
- All products purchased combine to create what the patient has available to purchase the rest of their 90-day supply. Such as, purchasing a 70-day supply of plant material leaves only 20-days available for vape oils/edibles.
Caregiver rules include:
- $25 per caregiver application
- Two caregivers can be designated by patients
- Caregivers can serve two patients at a time
- Exceptions to caregiver patient limits include hospice patients and pharmacy board-approved exceptions
Dispensary and processor rules include:
- 40 processors will be licensed to make oils, patches, topicals, edibles and capsules
- $10,000 application fee
- $90,000 fee upon application approval
- $100,000 annual license renewal fee
- 60 dispensaries will be approved for the entire state
- Licenses for dispensaries to be awarded by population
- Dispensary applicants pay a $5,000 application fee
- $70,000 license fee every other year for dispensaries
Additional processors and dispensaries can be added after September 8, 2018 to maintain patient demand. Dispensaries, processing centers and cultivation facilities may not be within 500-feet of libraries, churches, schools or playgrounds.
Doctors wishing to recommend medical marijuana to patients must take a courses and register with the state medical board.
