Trying to rectify an application scoring error, Ohio regulators issued a medical marijuana cultivation license to Illinois-based PharmaCann Ohio, which had been rejected in the original round of license review.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the company will receive a provisional permit for a 25,000 square-foot operation in Buckeye Lake, roughly 30 miles outside the state capital, Columbus.
The permit is the 25th license for a program that initially planned to issue only 24 cultivation licenses. It’s unclear how the Department of Commerce was able to issue the additional license.
Ohio regulators have been under attack for errors made in the licensing process.
Here’s what you need to know:
- In February, regulators discovered an employee had botched the scores for 10 companies, and PharmaCann was the only company in the group not awarded a license after the mistake.
- PharmaCann initially scored 12th for a large-scale cultivation license but didn’t receive a permit because regulators gave licenses to two lower-scoring companies under a provision in the law that gave preference to minority-owned businesses.
- PharmaCann filed suit, saying the state’s “racial quota” was unconstitutional.
- Under state law, Ohio’s MMJ program must be up and running by Sept. 8. The Plain Dealer reported that some growers expect to get the green light to begin growing this month.
- Processor and dispensary licenses are expected to be awarded in the coming weeks.
