Ohio’s Adult-Use Marijuana Sales Off To Special Start

COLUMBUS – Dozens of medical cannabis dispensaries in Ohio on Tuesday began selling adult-use marijuana products, ushering in a new era for the state and another potential billion-dollar market in the Midwest.

The final green light for recreational marijuana sales was given to 98 stores earlier in the day when the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control issued dual-use certificates of operation to those businesses.

Most of those retailers, including Akron-based Klutch Cannabis, started selling adult-use products Tuesday morning, with other licensees expected to commence recreational sales by week’s end, industry sources told MJBizDaily.

“It feels really special to us because this is our backyard. This is our neighborhood,” said Pete Nischt, vice president of compliance and communications at Klutch Cannabis, a vertically integrated company with The Citizen stores in Canton and Lorain.

Market watch

Other retail entrants in the expanded but limited-license market include several multistate operators, including Ayr Wellness and Verano Holdings Corp., as well as some locally grown operators such at Klutch and Queen City Cannabis.

The first-movers will compete in a market with sales projected to eclipse $1 billion in 2025 and hit $1.5 billion-$2 billion by the end of 2027, according to updated MJBizDaily forecasts.

Ohio is the 24th U.S. market to start adult-use sales, following Maryland’s launch in July 2023 and Missouri’s debut in February 2023.

And similar to Maryland and Missouri, Ohio’s recreational market debuted without a social equity program.

The nearly one-year gap between adult-use market launches is believed to be the marijuana industry’s longest drought since the first wave of consumer access more than a decade ago.