As of noon on Friday, Ohio regulators have granted provisional recreational cannabis business licenses to 46 facilities. The provisional licenses are ‘dual-use’ and were granted to existing medical cannabis businesses.
According to Jamie Crawford with the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control the dual licenses are “issued as a placeholder while the provisional licensee works to meet the necessary requirements to obtain a Certificate of Operation and the Division processes all required documents.”
The Ohio Division of Cannabis Control had received 235 applications to convert active medical cannabis licensees to dual-use cannabis licensees as of Friday. Of the 46 licenses issued so far, 4 were awarded to testing labs, 12 to cultivators, 10 to processors, and 20 to retail dispensaries.
“When a certificate is issued, the information will be published on the Division of Cannabis Control website. Crawford points to the medical marijuana dispensary map. On that map, a drop down menu for “search by use type” currently only shows medical as an option.” stated Spectrum News 1 in its original coverage.
Pablo Zuniac of Zuniac and Associates recently conducted an analysis of Ohio’s cannabis industry, and is projecting that by mid-2025 the state will have 254 licensed cannabis dispensaries, nearly double what the state currently has for medical cannabis.
“Ohio is estimated to have 254 dispensaries by mid-2025, according to new equity research by a marijuana financial analyst, putting it in the middle of the density pack among states where recreational marijuana is sold.” Cleveland.com stated in its original reporting.
“The 254 dispensaries Zuniac estimates Ohio will have by the middle of next year would be 22 dispensaries for every 1 million people in the state.” Cleveland.com also stated. For contextual purposes, below are some of the ratios for other states (dispensaries per 1 million residents):
- Connecticut: 9 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Illinois and New Jersey: 13 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Maryland: 17 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Arizona: 21 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- California: 32 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Missouri: 33 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Washington: 57 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Massachusetts: 68 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Michigan: 97 dispensaries per 1 million residents
- Colorado and Oregon: 190 dispensaries per 1 million residents
According to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program, as of April 30th, 2024, the state had 167,153 “patients with both an active registration and an active recommendation.” Ohio released updated patient enrollment numbers on May 28th, and the active patient enrollment number dropped to 165,746 patients.
According to cannabis industry data company Headset, “Ohio has been averaging $40 million in monthly sales over the past year. Generally, we see a 2 to 3X increase in sales with adult-use conversion, which would put Ohio at an $85 million monthly run rate right out of the gate. This is conservative; we anticipate even higher sales due to Ohio’s unique market dynamics and large population.”
The pre-roll sector in Ohio is assumed to experience the most dramatic change, with Headset pointing out that, “Ohio’s medical market prohibits smoking, banning Pre-Rolls, a category that captures 13.4% of national sales. Expect this to change with adult use, leading to significant opportunities in the Pre-Roll category.”
According to initial reporting by Marijuana Moment, Ohio recreational sales are anticipated to generate between $276.2 million and $403.6 million in annual cannabis tax dollars within five years.
“Tim Johnson, a longtime Ohio lobbyist and marijuana industry consultant, estimates Ohioans spent more than $700 million at Michigan marijuana stores last year.” reported MJBizDaily.