Ohio medical cannabis businesses have begun changing hands, particularly now that a year-long waiting period for the sale of dispensaries has expired.
According to the Cleveland Business Journal, at least eight licensed businesses have been purchased and another three sales are awaiting approval by state regulators.
Six MMJ dispensaries and two cultivation operations have already been sold, and three dispensaries are poised to be sold.
Under state law, dispensaries had to wait at least a year after starting operations before selling to another owner. Cultivators and other MMJ business types are under no such restriction.
Ohio medical marijuana sales began in January 2019, and the state approved the first sale of a dispensary on Sept. 1 this year.
Business purchases announced so far in Ohio include:
- Clubhouse dispensary in Elyria was sold to Body and Mind, a publicly traded Canadian company, for $3.1 million.
- Pure Ohio Wellness in Springfield was sold to Standard Wellness, another Ohio company.
- Verdant Creations sold four of its five dispensaries – in Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Marion and Newark – to Illinois-based Cresco Labs.
- Akron-based Klutch Cannabis purchased a grow operation in the same town from Massachusetts-based Calyx Peak Cos.
- Ohio Grown Therapies announced a deal in May 2019 to sell a business in Johnstown to Massachusetts-based Curaleaf, but it’s unclear if the deal ever closed.
