[image-1]A draft of rules released today by the state would limit the number of medical marijuana growers in Ohio to 18 and slap a $20,000 application fee and $180,000 license fee on the top-tier grower positions.

For now, the rules suggest 12 “Level I” licenses at $200,000 and six “Level II” licenses at $20,000. That’s pricey, compared to other states. The specifics behind these grow op licenses aren’t super clear yet, but, for instance, the highest-level license for Colorado clocks in at $28,200.

In theory, applicants would compete for those 18 slots.

Final rules are expected in May 2017.

Recall that state leaders and various marijuana advocates (like Scene) railed against ResponsibleOhio’s Issue 3 last year, a ballot issue that would have legalized medical and recreational marijuana use. The primary concern among opponents: ResponsibleOhio capped grow licenses at 10, a “monopoly,” according to critics.

The Ohio Department of Commerce will continue to flesh out state rules for the medical marijuana initiative, which was approved by legislators this summer.

This article appears in Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2016.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

4 replies on “Proposed Rules Could Limit Medical Marijuana Growers to 18 in Ohio”

  1. Career politicians cloak their favored monopolies as free enterprise……as in the freebies they receive by slamming the door on competition.

  2. Still able to buy marijuana without taxes pretty much everywhere. These new rules are going to stop all that, no?

  4. Why must there be any limits on who can grow this plant? Are people allowed to have a plant or two for their own use? If I want fancy marijuana or a specific chemical composition, then fine. I’ll buy from a commercial grower. But if I just want to get stoned, why can’t I grow it myself?

    I don’t understand why we tolerate all this crap. Half the heroin addicts in the state could probably kick the habit if they had access to marijuana. It’s good for darned near every disease going and yet we allow the Big Pharma-paid lawmakers in this state to regulate it as if it is more dangerous than nuclear waste.

    It’s a plant that will grow virtually anywhere. Bad soil. drought conditions, etc. I think these regulations are so much whistling in the dark.

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