Streetsboro officials were all ears May 20, but not one person showed up to speak at a public hearing regarding the city’s plan to regulate marijuana dispensaries and businesses selling unregulated psychoactive substances.
The proposed ordinance, which city council expects to approve next month, would classify a business that is both a licensed medical marijuana dispensary and an adult use dispensary as a single marijuana dispensary. The ordinance would limit dispensaries of any kind to two.
The state has not yet finalized rules that will govern adult-use dispensaries, but a publicized draft stipulates that no two such businesses can be within a mile of each other. Streetsboro’s proposed ordinance specifies a 2,000-foot distance.
The proposed state rules also limit what sorts of paraphernalia, cannabinoid compounds and derivatives dispensaries can sell. An intake representative at Bliss Ohio, Kent’s medical marijuana dispensary, said the state allows medical marijuana dispensaries to sell accessories such as vape cartridge batteries and grinders, but forbids the sale of THC products like Delta-8 or Delta-9.
Streetsboro currently has five retail businesses that sell paraphernalia, cannabinoid compounds and derivatives as a primary business. Streetsboro’s proposed ordinance would cut that number to three.
Competition is good, but an oversaturation