The state will be more than doubling the number of medical marijuana dispensaries soon. It's also changing the process for granting licenses for dispensaries too.
Business can apply for 73 new dispensary licenses. That would also bring the total allowed to 130 statewide. Cameron McNamee of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy says the new licenses will be awarded through a lottery process after dispensaries meet the requirements instead of scoring them individually.
“And we feel like that will result in a fairer, more streamlined, award process,” he said.
McNamee hopes it will also cut down in the number of lawsuits over the process too.
In 2018, the board awarded 57 dispensary licenses. Five of those still haven’t opened.
Three of Ohio's 31 medical marijuana districts in western Ohio currently have no dispensaries.
There are almost 93,000 licensed medical marijuana patients in Ohio right now, which is higher than anticipated . Many of them have complained about high prices or long commutes to dispensaries. It’s hoped these changes will help alleviate some of those problems.
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