Ohio Receives Flood of Applications for Cultivation Permits

On July 5, Ohio’s Department of Commerce released a complete list of businesses that applied to cultivate medical cannabis in the state’s medical cannabis program. The state has received 185 applications for a cultivator license.

The state will be issuing 24 cultivation licenses and the deadline to apply was June 30. According to plan, Ohio will license up to 12 cultivators at Level II, with up to 3,000 square feet of grow space. Twelve more will be issued at Level 1, with up to 25,000 square feet of grow space. Dispensary and processor licenses will be open for applications within the next few months.

The department said it had received 109 Level I applications and 76 Level II applications. Larger cultivator applicants paid a $20,000 nonrefundable application fee and will pay $180,000 more if they are selected. It will cost them an additional $200,000 per year to renew the license. Applicants for the smaller cultivator licenses only have to pay about a tenth of that price. A number of Ohio cities, including Akron, are imposing their own local licensing processes.

Cultivator licenses are awarded based on who has a solid business plan, staff and compliance record. The Ohio Department of Commerce doesn’t list very much information about the applicants other than the company name and the contact name.

Among the list of applicants was former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges. “It’s no longer an issue of being opposed to or in support of medical marijuana,” Borges told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “We have it in Ohio now, so it’s important that we help guide state policy appropriately and bring qualified, responsible applicants to the table.”

The Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program must be operational no later than September 2018. For now, qualified patients are allowed to obtain medical cannabis from nearby legal states. Ohio became the 25th state to legalize medical cannabis in June 2016.