2 medical marijuana stores approved in Butler County

The Dayton-Cincinnati region will get 12 medical marijuana stores, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy ruled today, and two will be located in Butler County.

The stores will be located at:

Butler County

  • 127 Ohio LLC in the Village of Seven Mile in Butler County;
  • CannAscend Alternative LLC, 300 No. Main St., Monroe.

Warren County

  • Therapeutic Healing Care, LLC, 1525 Genntown Drive, Suite B, Lebanon.

Hamilton County

  • Care Med Associates, 5149 Kennedy Ave., Cincinnati;
  • Green Rx Inc., 8420 Vine St., Cincinnati;
  • PharmaCann Ohio, 5445 Ridge Rd. in Columbia.

Montgomery County

  • Pure Ohio Wellness LLC, 1875 Needmore Rd., Dayton;
  • CannAscend Alternative, 333 Wayne Ave., Dayton;
  • Schottenstein Aphria III LLC, 5604 Airway Rd., Riverside.

Greene County

  • Harvest of Ohio LLC., 4370 Tonawanda Trail, Beavercreek.

Clark County

  • Pure Ohio Wellness LLC, 1711 West Main St., Springfield;
  • Cannamed Therapeutics LLC, 0 Raydo Circle, Springfield.

Locally, Blue Ash, Colerain Twp., Fairfield, Hamilton, Liberty Twp., Sharonville and West Chester Twp. all have rules blocking marijuana-related businesses in their communities.

The 56 were among the 376 applications received for dispensary licenses, which will sell medical marijuana to registered, qualified patients whose licensed doctors have recommended they use the drug.

State pharmacy officials and North Highland, a consultant, spent six months reviewing and scoring applications based on business, operations and patient care plans as well as compliance with existing laws.

The Board of Pharmacy also hired an IT security consultant to double check the data integrity during the application process, after the Ohio Department of Commerce discovered scoring problems after the fact.

Hotline goes live, patient registry starts in July

The Board of Pharmacy expects to launch its patient registry in July.

Also, the Board of Pharmacy went live Monday with its medical marijuana toll-free help line at 1-833-4OH-MMCP (1-833-464-6627). The help line will respond to questions from patients, caregivers and health professionals about adverse reactions to medical marijuana and other related issues.

The announcement reflects the first round of dispensary licenses.

In June 2016, Kasich signed a bill into law that authorizes use by patients with 21 conditions, including cancer or chronic pain, in the form of edibles, oils, patches and vaporizing. Patients and their caregivers will be allowed to possess up to a 90 day supply. Smoking or home growing it is barred.

In 2017 and this year, regulators with the Medical Marijuana Control Program have been writing rules for growers, processors, testing labs, dispensaries, patients and caregivers as well as reviewing and scoring applications for licenses. It is expected to be fully operational by September 2018.

Marijuana remains an illegal controlled substance under federal law. Despite that, 29 states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive medical marijuana laws and eight states have legalized recreational use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. MPP notes that 20 other states have medical marijuana laws that the project deems insufficient.