The month of June – when Ohio officials were predicting recreational marijuana sales would launch – has come and gone, and nary an adult-use gram of flower has been sold, despite scores of dispensaries being primed and ready.
The 110 existing medical marijuana shops that have been given provisional permits by the Division of Cannabis Control are still all awaiting their final certificates of operation from the same agency, the Ohio Capital Journal reported, and it’s not clear exactly when any of them will receive such permission. Until they do, however, adult-use sales will remain in limbo.
But industry insiders again in recent days predicted to Ohio reporters that the new recreational market launch is still poised to begin this summer, despite regulators technically having until Sept. 7 to finalize approvals or denials on marijuana business permits.
“We are a matter of weeks away from Ohioans being able to purchase legal, regulated, taxed, tested, adult-use marijuana products right here in the Buckeye State,” the Ohio Cannabis Coalition’s Tom Haren told the Ohio Capital Journal recently.
NBC affiliate WCMH also reported that a spokesman for multistate operator Cresco Labs (CSE: CL) (OTCQX: CRLBF), which has a sizable footprint in Ohio, is also