Analysis of the Medical Marijuana growing facility planned for Ravenna
Medical Marijuana growing facilities in Ohio from Jake Ruffo on Vimeo.
September 8, 2016 marked the first day in Ohio’s two-year plan to make medical marijuana a reality in the state. Just over a year later, a company is in the works to open their growing facility in Ravenna township. FN Group Holdings, a company out of Chagrin Falls, was granted a Level ll Cultivator Provisional License with an application score of 176.76 out of a possible 200, the second highest score in the state. The company turned in their 231-page application on June 9, 2017. They were awarded their license on June 22.
FN Group Holdings, being from Chagrin Falls, and not Ravenna, had to be given a special welcoming letter by the Board of Trustees of Ravenna Township in order to build a facility in Ravenna. The Board, when presented with the layout for the facility, voted yes by a vote of 2-0, with with Pat Artz and Vince Coia voting yes, and Hank T. Gibson abstaining. The company then had to make their appeal to Ravenna Township zoning inspector Jim DiPaola. After they were approved, they finished their application and sent it to the Ohio Department of Commerce
Ohio’s scoring system for applications grades the proposed facilities on five different factors: Business Plan, Operations Plan, Quality Assurance Plan, Security Plan and Financial Plan. Operations Plan is the largest percentage of the 200 point final grade, accounting for 70.8 points. The group that got the highest score was Fire Rock Ltd. which got a 178.92 for each of their three proposed facilities. Those facilities will be in Columbus, Canton, and Akron. The group that was approved with the lowest score was Galenas LLC, which also was proposed for Akron.
Many of the things FN Group Holdings were graded on in their applications have been blocked out in the public version of the application. These trade secrets include things such as plans for infrastructure and what strains they plan on growing.
A level ll cultivator provisional license, according to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program, allows for a 3,000 square foot marijuana growing facility. The real estate the facility sits on must be at least 500 feet away from the real estates of any of the following prohibited facilities, as stated in Ohio Revised Code 3796.30: School, including day-care centers, preschools, a public or nonpublic primary or secondary school, church, public library, public playground, or public park.
FN Group Holdings’ application lays out three owners. Claire Hobson, the COO and majority shareholder, has a 51.2 percent interest in the facility. Mark Hobson, CEO, has a 42.75 percent interest. Customer Service Manager Spencer Hobson has a 5 percent interest. According to the application, Claire is also president and secretary, while Mark is Vice President and Treasurer.
In the application only five employees were named, the Hobsons mentioned above, Cultivation Manager Benjamin Abourjelly, and Compliance/ Inventory Control Manager Louy Sayhood. Also included were spots for two cultivation technicians/ Inventory Control Managers, though no names are mentioned. When the facility is operating, there must be at least five full-time employees, with added emphasis on hiring local. This emphasis is even stronger on hiring local veterans.
The proposed facility has been insured by Conifer Insurance for the period between May 25, 2017 and May 22, 2018. The policy offers $1,860,000 in coverage with a $24,493 deductible. It covers general liability, property, and product liability. The policy has $500,000 crop coverage, and also insures any finished product that is being held on the facility for $100,000. The building itself is insured for $400,000. The property is insured for $200,000. Finally, the income is insured for $686,000. They also have liability coverage through James River Insurance specifically on the “Medical Marijuana leaves, bud, flowers, and trim”. This premium cost the company $4,217 dollars, and can cover up to $2 million.
The Class ll facilities must have either a one ton or heavier safe, or a 700 pound safe which is bolted to the floor on the facility in which to store any finished product during closed hours. This includes marijuana, hash, cookies and kif. They must also have a functioning burglar alarm which has contacts on all windows, doors leading outside, and all windows and stairs adjacent to these doors. It must also have motion detectors in the room in which the safe is kept.
When this whole process started, 4000 Lake Rockwell Road was owned by Brian Pfeiffer, however, he sold it to FN Group Holdings when the license was awarded for $225,000. The 5.1003 acre patch of land has seen no physical development toward becoming a marijuana growing facility as of October 2017.
Ohio has been one of the worst states hurt by the ongoing opioid crisis. In 2016, 4,050 drug overdose deaths were recorded in the state. That was a 35 percent increase over the year before. Hopefully, the decriminalization of medical marijuana in the state will have the effect it did in states that decriminalized it sooner. A study was done looking at the first 13 states where marijuana was decriminalized. These states in the first six years after they decriminalized had an average of 33 percent less opioid deaths than their non decriminalized counterparts. In Colorado, where recreational marijuana is legal, opioid death fell six percent in 2016. Death from painkiller overdose fell roughly 27 percent that year.
According to Coia, from the Ravenna Board of Trustees, there have not been talks of opening a dispensary in Ravenna Township.
A medical marijuana facility is opening up in Ravenna. With Portage County hurting so bad from the opioid epidemic, this can only be a good thing. #PortageCounty
— Jacob Ruffo (@JacobRuffo) November 16, 2017