According to the Ohio Department of Commerce’s public information officer, and as reported by 13ABC, “as of Friday at noon 219 applications have been filed to convert active medical marijuana licensees to dual-use cannabis licensees.”
In Ohio, current owners of medical cannabis business licenses get to apply first before non-license owners. Current applicants are applying for ‘dual-use licenses’ which will permit them to conduct cannabis commerce for both the medical and recreational markets.
“The public information officer, Jamie Crawford, wrote that so far, the Division of Cannabis Control told eight facilities, including testing labs, cultivators, and processors that they qualify for a provisional license.” 13ABC also reported.
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.