Dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries in Northeast Ohio are gearing up to start recreational sales Tuesday – and they’re anticipating high demand.
Customers across Ohio could see long lines and packed stores for the first week of recreational sales, said Pete Nischt, vice president of compliance and communications at Klutch Cannabis.
“We’re going to move from roughly 160,000 medical patients [in Ohio] to potentially 2 to 3 million adult use consumers overnight,” Nischt said.
Klutch Cannabis runs two dispensaries, both called The Citizen by Klutch, in Lorain and Canton. They also operate a cultivator and processor in Akron.
The company was notified last week they’d been approved for a dual-use license to begin recreational sales on Tuesday, alongside nearly 100 dispensaries in the state, including about 50 in Northeast Ohio.
The Friday announcement gave dispensary employees a seemingly quick turnaround to get ready for recreational sales. However, most dispensaries have been preparing for the past nine months since Ohio voters approved the constitutional amendment to legalize recreational sales, Nischt said.
“A lot of staffing, hiring, education, product education, training on [standard operating procedures] changes, you know, especially in retail,” Nischt said. “On the production side, we have been working on a number of projects to increase production capacity, storage capacity here at our Akron facility. So, a lot has gone into this this moment, which is coming here in less than 24 hours, and it feels good.”
In addition to ramping up staffing for the anticipated demand, Klutch Cannabis has also rolled out new tech, Nischt said.
“We’ve implemented some technology - new queuing software to help people move through the system quicker,” he added. “We’re trying to implement some accommodations for medical patients … fast check-in, fast checkout.”
Regardless of where they shop, Nischt said he encourages customers to ask dispensary employees questions and be honest about their level of comfort.
“We can walk you through dosing, what kind of products are available, what might be appropriate for you,” Nischt said. “I think that everybody’s going to get the best out of this if they ask questions and tell us how we can help them.”
Customers must be at least 21 years old and present a valid photo ID in order to purchase products.
Nischt expects the initial surge to die down in a few weeks as more dispensaries come online, based on the rollout of recreational sales in other states, he added.
