Ohio would have up to 40 dispensaries under draft regulations for its medical marijuana industry released Thursday.
The proposed rules, drafted by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, would require prospective dispensary owners to pay a $5,000 application fee as well as an $80,000 license fee every other year, according to The Plain Dealer. Potential owners also would be required to have a minimum of $250,000 in liquid assets.
The draft rules also would require all MMJ purchases to be reported to the state controlled substances database (Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System) within five minutes of a transaction.
A separate set of rules released Thursday and drafted by the Ohio Medical Board would require doctors who want to recommend MMJ to complete a two-hour educational course to become certified, The Plain Dealer reported. Doctors who are certified to recommend medical marijuana would not be allowed to own dispensaries or other medical marijuana-related businesses.
Regulations on licensing businesses and registered businesses would be drafted sometime next year, according to the newspaper.
Ohio officials also recommended an increase in cannabis cultivation sites from six to 12, an alteration to a November proposal. Among the proposed revisions is an increase in large cultivation sites from 15,000 square feet to 25,000 and smaller grow sites from 1,600 square feet to 3,000, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
