Ohio’s Delays Could Prevent Patients from Getting Medical Cannabis On Schedule

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]hio is less than 100 days away from its Sept. 8 deadline of making medical cannabis available to qualified patients, but the slow progress and failures to meet deadlines could delay treatment when that date passes.

“I don’t think there is a lot of confidence in that Sept. 8 date. If there is not a seed in the ground right now, you can speed up the permit process and build 24 hours a day, but the only thing you can’t speed up is Mother Nature,” said Bob Bridges, a patient advocate on the state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee. Using transplants from cuttings can shorten the growing time, but maturation still take almost 3 months, plus time for drying and preparation.

“Patients are very, very concerned product won’t be ready,” Bridges said. Ohio’s path to serving medical cannabis is state has been long and complicated.  Cannabis for medical use was first signed into law in June 2016, and each step since has seen delays and postponements. Starting in September, medical cannabis is legal for patients and caregivers ages 21 and over with one of 21 conditions including Parkinson’s, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and cancer. Cannabis can be used in topicals, vaped, or put into edibles but not smoked or grown at home.

The question of how available cannabis is to these patients when full compliancy is planned is still yet to be answered.

Ohio’s system of oversight and testing is still waiting on some licenses to be awarded. Dispensaries are still waiting on licensing, as well as some testing facilities. According to Ohio Medical Marijuana License Holder Coalition spokesperson Alex Thomas, as of last week, no cultivators had planted cannabis yet.

“We are told that we will hear at the end of May, but it’s hard to put any credence or trust into any of the recommendations or deadlines they (the state) set because they always miss them.,” said Jonathan Cachat, director of lab sciences at Hocking Technical College.

Cultivation in Ohio has had a rocky start after investigations showed that scores were miscalculated and multiple growers were in unsuitable sites. The cultivation provisional license grantees are still in the inspection process before their permanent licenses are granted.

Dispensaries are scheduled to be announced in early June, but a meeting scheduled for Wednesday was canceled because not all the minimum requirements were verified for the dispensaries. Dispensary applications, which included a $5,000 fee, were collected in November 2017. Over 350 applications were collected.

“Postponing the announcement of the awards is due to some unexpected delays in information required to validate an applicant meets the minimum license qualifications,” wrote Cameron McNamee, a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, in an email to High Times. “It does not have to do with the applicant’s scores, as those have been finalized since March. The Board fully expects that all outstanding information will be obtained or confirmed in order to move ahead with the issuance of provisional licenses in June.”