AKRON, Ohio — The state is one step closer to the first day of recreational marijuana sales.
The first 10 weed cultivators and processors in the state have been granted a certificate of operations by the Division of Cannabis Control, which will let them start working in the recreational weed market.
Four cultivators and six processors across the State of Ohio have been awarded certificates of operations.
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The list of approved growers and processors includes one in Summit, one in Lorain, and one in Portage counties.
During the IT CrowdStrike global outage last Friday, the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control wasn’t impacted, awarding 10 cultivators and processors across the state certificates of operations.
But what does this mean?
It means select operators now have legal permission granted by the state to begin creating marijuana products and packaging for adult use—but it's not for sale just yet.
Klutch Cannabis, based in Akron, is one of the lucky first 10 picked to begin this process.
“The products being produced in this building, once our labs are approved, are ready to be sold to adult-use consumers,” added Pete Nischt, Vice President of Compliance and Communications at Klutch Cannabis.
While this is a step in the right direction, the rollout continues.
Until testing labs state cultivators and processors to receive their non-medical cannabis certificate of operations, dispensaries remain unable to sell recreational adult-use weed products.
There are 10 marijuana testing labs in Ohio, all of which have not received a certificate of operations.
Seven, however, have been awarded provisional licenses.
“No adult use sales can begin until both the labs that we are using and the dispensaries that we sell to are also licensed,” Nischt said.
CEO of the Akron-based cultivation company Galenas, Jeff Korff, said he’s still waiting.
“We have just been trying to make assumptions of what the adult-use market is going to look like while really positioning ourselves to be ready when the regulations finally come down,” Korff said.
Once given the green light, he has plans to expand his 11,000-square-foot Akron growing operation to about 35,000 square feet in the next 18 months while also expanding operations into another nearby city.
“We do have a second operation that we are setting up as a nursery for small plants, that is going to get set up just north of here in Cuyahoga Falls,” said Korff.
Klutch Cannabis is grateful to be among the first awarded, but the team there said it’s not a race.
“Something that kind of must move forward, logically step by step, so we're excited to be part of it, but I think we have a little way to go,” said Nischt.
Again, this is a rollout process, so more cultivators and processors may be awarded certificates of operation even this week. Awarded cultivators remain optimistic testing labs will soon be awarded a certificate of operations in the next couple of weeks, which means the sale of adult-use marijuana could begin as soon as August.
If there is a weed-related story you’d like Bryn Caswell to follow through on, email her at bryn.caswell@wews.com
