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Ohio medical marijuana growers form trade assn.
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: April 3, 2018
It’s been less than six months since officials at the Ohio Department of Commerce awarded provisional licenses to 24 large and small medical marijuana growers, allowing them to build facilities where they will cultivate crops that will eventually be processed and turned into medical-grade products for patients with qualifying conditions.
The licenses are broken into two categories: Level I, which allows the license holder to grow crops on up to 25,000 square feet of space and Level II, which gives the licensee the right to do so on up to 3,000 square feet.
In early March, nearly one-third of those growers formed the nonprofit trade association Ohio Medical Marijuana License Holder Coalition (OMMLHC), with the goal of providing a unified voice on behalf of the industry.
Alex Thomas, executive director of OMMLHC and assistant director at Roetzel Consulting Solutions, said the organization will promote policies that support the quality, safety and sustainability of the state’s medical marijuana program.
“Patients have waited long enough for the relief they can experience from medical marijuana,” said Thomas. “Our voice is being left out of the current debate and that can’t happen any longer.
“Too many special interests are working hard to file lawsuits, hire investigators and create doubt about the program,” he said. “The result is that it is delaying the program and making patients wait longer to benefit from the relief that medical marijuana can provide.”
John Vavalo, founder and chief executive officer of Terradiol Ohio in Canton, is one of the license holders that joined the association.
“I think it’s critical that we as growers come together as one single voice in the industry so that we can be sure we are fulfilling the needs of the marketplace,” he said.
Ohio House Bill 523, which legalized medical marijuana in the state, took effect on Sept. 8, 2016.
The Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program allows patients diagnosed with a qualifying medical condition, who receive a recommendation from a licensed Ohio doctor that is certified by the State Medical Board, to purchase medical marijuana products from a dispensary and use them to alleviate the symptoms of their illnesses.
Patients are limited to a 90-day supply of medical marijuana.
Qualifying conditions range from HIV/AIDS, cancer, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy or other seizure disorders to fibromyalgia, glaucoma, hepatitis C, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, sickle cell anemia, post-traumatic stress disorder as well as pain that is either chronic and severe or intractable.
Under Sec. 3796.06 of the law, the only forms of the drug that can be dispensed are oils, tinctures, plant material, edibles, patches and “Any other form approved by the state board of pharmacy under section 3796.061 of the Revised Code.”
Smoking marijuana is prohibited under the law, however the vaporization of medical marijuana is allowed. In addition, residents are not allowed to grow marijuana for their own personal use.
The program must be operational by Sept. 8, 2018.
Many of the growers are busy constructing their facilities in order to meet the deadline.
Vavalo, whose company already has a facility in Syracuse, New York, received a Level I license. He’s building a large indoor facility at Harmont Avenue NE in Canton.
“The building where we will be housed has been a blight on the community for many years,” said Vavalo. “It was originally a grocery store but recently it has been used by scrap metal dealers.
“We expect to have completed the construction by Sept. 1 and to have our first crop ready about 100 days later,” he said. “We have also applied for a processor’s license and if we get that we will be able to process it and send it to the dispensaries.”
Vavalo, a resident of Syracuse, said he first became interested in growing medical marijuana after his mother passed away from breast cancer over five years ago.
“When my mother was ill medical marijuana was not legal in New York,” said Vavalo. “After she passed away I began educating myself about the products and when New York passed its medical marijuana law I decided that I want to be a grower.”
Thomas said he expects that all 24 provisional license holders will become members of the association as times goes on.
“Our association has one goal: To keep things moving along in the state and fight any special interests that would prevent that from happening,” said Thomas.