The cannabis product tied to two “serious adverse health effects” that saw an Ohio marijuana store voluntarily close was a vaporizer cartridge, according to the company.
Scott Everett, general counsel for Arizona-based multistate operator Vext, said the company’s Vapen-branded cartridge products are on a “precautionary hold” as they undergo a laboratory review, Signal Cleveland reported.
Two customers reported health effects after purchasing products at the Herbal Wellness Center store in Jackson, Ohio, which Vext temporarily closed last week at the request of the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control.
Neither the state nor the company has described the nature of the health events or confirmed any fatalities, Signal reported.
What sickened Ohio cannabis customers?
In a Sept. 4 statement, Vext CEO Eric Offenberger said the company is “confident that our products are safe when used as intended.”
Follow-up testing at an independent lab detected no harmful contaminants, DCC spokesperson Tom Brockman told Signal.
The products tested were drawn from the same lot as one purchased by a patient who experienced adverse effects. No harmful contaminants were detected.
Vext conducted the testing at regulators’ request and paid for it, according to Signal.
The DCC declined to release further details about the products in question or “any health-related information,” citing “an ongoing investigation.”
Everett said all Vext products undergo testing at independent, state-licensed labs before sale.
“Out of respect for the individuals involved and the ongoing review that [regulators are] doing, we’re not commenting on health-related matters or specific products,” he told Signal.
Did a legal Ohio cannabis product kill someone?
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A person died at a nearby emergency room within five or six days of the cannabis store’s closure, according to Buster Hall, an investigator with the county coroner’s office.
He said the connection to any product sold at the store is unknown.
“We had a death in Holzer Medical Center ER in that time frame,” Hall told Signal.
“We sent the body for an autopsy,” he added.
“We have no report yet on the cause of death. We don’t know if it’s related or not.”
Ohio’s combined medical and adult-use cannabis sales revenue reached $684.6 million?from Jan. 3 through July 11, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
That puts Ohio cannabis sales in 2026 on track to exceed?the $1.09 billion in combined sales?recorded in 2025.
What’s next for Vext Science in Ohio?
Vext entered Ohio in 2023 – before voters legalized adult-use cannabis in 2024 – via acquisitions.
In October of that year, Vext purchased two MMJ dispensaries, a Tier 1 cultivation facility and a manufacturing operation from Big Perm’s Dispensary Ohio for $9.8 million.
That came on the heels of the company purchasing Jackson, Ohio-based Appalachian Pharm Processing along with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies.
The company opened its sixth Ohio store in June and had planned to open a seventh in Columbus early next year as it approaches the state limit of eight stores, according to its most recent public filings.
