The Ohio pharmacy board is expected to announce today what businesses will be allowed to sell medical marijuana beginning this September.
The nearly five-dozen dispensary licenses are the next step in a series of permits Ohio is requiring to grow and sell medical marijuana beginning Sept. 8. The awards had been expected to be made at a special meeting of the pharmacy board late last month. But it cancelled that meeting because of unexpected delays validating that each applicant met minimum standards.
More than 100 groups have applied for the sellers’ licenses.
Three separate state agencies – the departments of pharmacy and commerce and the Ohio medical board -- are in charge of licensing and standards for the new program. The commerce department ran into repeated problems – and two lawsuits – over the way it scored applications for those vying to get the state’s OK to grow marijuana.
Besides the seller’s licenses, up to 40 provisional licenses still have to be awarded to companies to process marijuana into edibles and other forms allowed by law. And licenses have not been awarded to the labs to test the product. The law requires doctors to get certificates to recommend medical marijuana to patients who have one of 21 conditions, including Parkinson’s, epilepsy and chronic pain.
