of Creating One of Largest Medical Marijuana Markets in the U.S.
Ohio appears poised to become the newest state to approve a medical marijuana program, which could create one of the largest MMJ industries in the nation with patient numbers in the hundreds of thousands and annual sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
A MMJ bill was approved by lawmakers last week and stands a good chance of becoming law and is now the only legalization option left in the state for 2016. The Marijuana Policy Project-backed campaign that was gathering signatures for a ballot measure this November halted its effort last weekend after Ohio lawmakers passed their measure. Already you Say?
That means the legislature’s bill will be the foundation for a new cannabis industry in Ohio, as long as the Governor of Ohio signs it into law.
“We passed it last Wednesday. He has 30 days to sign it, and I’m confident that he will,” A lawmaker said Tuesday.
Lawmakers left it up to regulators to work out many details of any program, and some marijuana advocates are disappointed with the measure, saying it’s too restrictive.
But the bill, which clocks in at 126 pages, is a groundbreaking step for yet another mid-western state.
Twenty-one ailments are included in the broad list of qualifying conditions, ranging from chronic pain to cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder to glaucoma. The inclusion of chronic pain is important, as it can help boost patient numbers dramatically.
A spokesman for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana – a group that suspended its legalization campaign – estimated that around 200,000 residents would qualify to participate in the MMJ program. Although many would not actually sign up for medical cannabis cards, the patient base could be sizable.
Entrepreneurs looking to get into Ohio’s medical cannabis industry, however, will have to wait for many of the details to be ironed out.
“The business side of things is not really very in focus right now, because they didn’t make a lot of the decisions in the legislation,” The Spokesman said.
“They more or less just left it up to these various state government entities that are going to control various regulatory aspects of this,” “How many growers are there going to be? How many processors are there going to be? All of those details are going to be left to the boards to sort out and establish through rulemaking.”
Wait a minute? What about adding to the mix the number of Bud-tenders? The Number of Automated Trimming Machine Operators? Hand Trimmers? Not so fast, says one lawmaker, as things stand, here’s a synopsis of what’s known and what’s still to be determined for the Ohio MMJ program.
Some of the key points for entrepreneurs that would need to be hammered out include details such as licensing fees, whether there would be a cap on business permits, the size and scope of commercial grow operations, and a host of other questions.
The bottom line at this point, according to Marshall: “If people are interested in getting into the business in Ohio, they need to pay attention to what the lawmakers are going to be doing in the next few months and watch how the process unfolds.” Wow! If Signed in 30 Days, this could be Huge! Expect a snowball effect to happen if this bill gets signed. Stay tuned!
Michael Garay ~