Medical Marijuana will Root in Ravenna
RAVENNA, Ohio– Medical marijuana is at the beginning stages of growth in Ohio, but 11 different companies were recently announced license award winners.
The companies listed below were declared award winners for level II dispensary grows which means they are allowed up to 3,000 square feet of growing space.
- Fire Rock Ltd., with sites in Columbus, Canton and Akron
- FN Group Holdings LLC, Ravenna
- Mother Grows Best LLC, Canton
- OhiGrow LLC, Toledo
- Ancient Roots LLC, Wilmington
- Ohio Clean Leaf LLC, with sites in Dayton and Carroll
- Ascension BioMedical LLC in Oberlin
- Agri-Med Ohio LLC in Langsville
- Paragon Development Group LLC in Huber Heights
- Hemma LLC in Monroe
- Galenas LLC in Akron
The process to get to where the 11 companies above have gotten was extensive and very expensive. Costing nearly $380,000 not including the real estate property for the sites.
According to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program the application fee for the above companies was $5,000, which is a completely nonrefundable expense. While the dispensary owners needed at least $375,000 worth of capital and proof of an acquired property space to even be considered.
An additional fee of $70,000 for the certificate of operations is also needed before the facility opens and it must be renewed every two years at $70,000 per renewal.
FN Group Holdings LLC, or Wellspring Fields is the company that has been approved by the state to own and operate the medical marijuana dispensary that will reside in Ravenna Township.
Contact was attempted to speak to one of the three business owners, Claire Hobson, Spencer Hobson, and Tom Hobson but no phone calls were returned.
Although the dispensary means 8-20 good paying jobs for the city of Ravenna, some citizens, including Portage County Sheriff, David Doak, are not very happy about the medical marijuana dispensary site and what it could do to the Township.
Ravenna Sheriff, David Doak said, “I have gone on record saying that I am totally against it, period.”
He also stated, “I will not contract or have deputy’s work security at any of these places if I am approached about it.”
The state will have certain security regulations in place to avoid any crimes from occurring at or around the dispensary; those security measures have yet to be released.
Speaking for Ravenna, Township Trustee, Pat Artz said, “We’re doing our best to make sure that it is ok and that it will work well for the community.”
Artz also said that if there is nose or smell then they would shut it down right away and take care of it.
The next steps for the dispensary are to take an empty lot and turn it into a full grown medical marijuana dispensary at 4000 Lake Rockwell Road Ravenna, Ohio.
I spoke with the Portage County zoning inspector Jim DiPaola, and he stated that contractors have broken ground on the site but he doesn’t have a current idea when the site might be complete. But online resources suggest that medical marijuana in Ohio should be available to those prescribed in about a year.
Medical marijuana has been found to help patients suffering from illnesses such as AIDS/HIV, Alzheimers, Arthritis, Cancer, Chronic pain, Crohn’s disease, Epilepsy, and Multiple Sclerosis.
Medical Marijuana expert, Edward Bednarczyk, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Buffalo said, “The billion dollar question, which part of medical marijuana is the best one to use for patients with these types of pain.”
There is a wide variety of the marijuana plant, including two different sexes and different ways the plant can help certain people and different illnesses. Although research has been conducted and studies have found medical marijuana to be beneficial researchers are still at the beginning stages of finding out just exactly what this powerful plant is capable of.
Bednarczyk also said, “We’re in the middle of an opioid crisis, what if medical marijuana was able to help with some kinds of pain and would prevent 25% of those who become addicted to medical opioid from becoming addicted.”
There is a possibly that medical marijuana could assist in the opioid crisis.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse more than 90 Americans die every single day from overdosing on opioids.
Below is a map highlighting the locations that were approved in Ohio as level II dispensary grows.