Yo, peep this – Ohio cannabis regulators dropped some draft rules for how they gonna govern the production and sales of recreational marijuana last week. So basically, voters gave the green light to recreational weed in Ohio when they passed Issue 2 in that November 2023 election. That makes Ohio the 24th state to say peace out to making weed illegal, you feel me?
So, Issue 2 got about 57% of the votes, legalizing recreational marijuana for all the adults 21 and up in Ohio. They can have up to 2.5 ounces of weed and up to 15 grams of cannabis concentrates on them now. And check this – you can even grow your own plants at home! You’re allowed to have six plants if you’re living solo, but if there’s more than one grown-up in the crib, y’all can have up to 12 plants total. Keep it growing!
They also put together this new crew called the Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) to make sure everything stays in line. These folks got the power to license, regulate, investigate, and penalize anybody dealing with adult use cannabis. Gotta keep it legit out here.
Before this, though, there weren’t no rules on how people could buy and sell recreational weed in Ohio. Governor Mike DeWine said it was a goofy situation – no legal way to get your hands on the good stuff. But now, we got some guidelines.
The new regulations lay down the law on how recreational cannabis is gonna be handled. They took tips from other states that already legalized marijuana to set things up right. Retail pot shops gotta be at least 500 feet away from schools, parks, churches – basically any spot where the kids hang out.
You gotta be 21 or older to cop some weed at these shops. And you better have your ID ready ’cause they checking. And get this – once you step inside, they gonna assign someone to watch over you while you shop around. Dispensaries shut down by 11 p.m., so make sure you get there early.
And don’t even think about changing the name of your shop without getting the OK from the DCC first. You gotta throw down some cash before you start doing business too – $50,000 for dispensaries, $7,500 for testing labs, and $750,000 if you’re one of the big weed growers.
There’s also limits on how many cannabis businesses one person can own. Each dispensary owner can only have one cultivator, one processor, and eight store locations under their belt. Security requirements are in place too, along with rules for getting rid of waste properly.
It looks like medical marijuana dispensaries might start selling recreational weed as early as June 7 under these new rules. They’ll hand out licenses for adult-use cannabis shops a bit later, possibly by September 7.
Brian Vicente, who knows his stuff when it comes to cannabis law, said Ohio’s rules are a smart move for the state. He said they borrowed ideas from other places that already went through this process, so they ahead of the game.
The DCC wants to hear from the people though. They accepting comments on these new regulations until April 17. Things might change depending on what lawmakers decide.
So remember – this info is based on what voters approved for now. The rules could switch up depending on what goes down in the state legislature. Stay tuned for more updates ’cause things could get real interesting real quick!
