Although only 19 states have legalized recreational cannabis compared to the more than 30 states with legal medical cannabis markets, recreational cannabis sales have routinely breached the billion-dollar milestone. Demand for adult-use cannabis has been so high that states have been able to earn billions in taxes alone from cannabis sales.
Data from Ohio shows that the medical cannabis segment has just as much commercial potential. The state launched medical cannabis sales in April 2019 and has sold $1 billion worth of medical use cannabis in the last three years. Figures posted by the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program show that as of Sept. 18, 2022, medical cannabis sales had reached $1,000,047,483.
In the following week, medical cannabis dispensaries sold another $8 million worth of cannabis. Over the two years and four months since Ohio began medical cannabis sales, patients bought 10,990,809 units of manufactured cannabis products and 118,978 pounds of marijuana plant material.
This revelation comes as Ohio prepares to double its approved dispensaries by early 2023. Back in May, state regulators announced that they had used a lottery system to choose 70 new licensees. Ohio currently has 58 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries, and the Ohio Board of Pharmacy is looking to license 73 more dispensaries.
The 70 new licenses that were issued to applicants were provisional, meaning they will have to build state-compliant spaces and go through an inspection by the board before they can begin operations. The applicants will have until February 2023 to build out their spaces, receive an operational license and begin operations. The board is also working with three additional companies to determine if those companies are eligible for provisional licenses.
Ohio has almost 300,000 registered medical cannabis patients, with 150,000 currently holding active registrations and recommendations. But with only 58 dispensaries to serve hundreds of thousands of patients, the pharmacy board decided to double the number of dispensaries.
The board based its decision on the fact that Ohio has fewer dispensaries per capita compared to every other medical cannabis market in the United States, limited dispensaries in the western regions of the state and higher-than-expected patient registration numbers. The Plain Dealer reports that the pharmacy board hopes the expansion of licensed dispensaries will allow for 1,200 registered medical marijuana patients per dispensary district.
In the meantime, reform activists are working to legalize recreational cannabis in Ohio. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA) unsuccessfully tried to get a legalization initiative on the November ballot, but they are now looking to legalize adult-use cannabis next year.
The strong sales numbers coming out of Ohio are also similar or even surpassed in other legal marijuana markets, such as the jurisdictions where companies such as Prime Harvest Inc. are licensed to operate. This is a strong indication of how much public sentiment has evolved with regard to this plant.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Prime Harvest Inc. are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/PRIME
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