Ohio’s Adult-Use Licensing Process Leads CBT’s Top Stories in July

It’s been more than a year since a state rolled out a new adult-use cannabis market in the U.S., and the anticipation for Ohio to commence such operations captivated reader attention in July.

Specifically, Cannabis Business Times’ audience did not want to miss out on Ohio’s provisional licensing process, the next steps the state’s regulators were taking to kick-start the program, a lottery for licensees to choose new dispensary sites, and the issuance of certificates of operation to ignite the market. These four topics led CBT’s top 10 most-read articles this month.

“It means a lot to us,” Pure Ohio Wellness Chief Operating Officer Tracey McMillin told CBT about being among Ohio’s first cultivators and processors to receive dual-use (medical and adult-use) licensure. “We have been ready for a few months to start providing our products to the medical and recreational customers in Ohio, and this brings us one step closer.”

While Ohio is among three states working toward adult-use sales launches, Delaware and Minnesota aren’t expected to begin dispensary operations until 2025. Ohio, where many existing medical cannabis dispensaries anticipate expanding their operations to a broader customer base as soon as next week, will be the first state to commence adult-use sales since Maryland did so on July 1, 2023.

The last time the U.S. had a one-year-plus lapse between adult-use market launches was when Michigan commenced sales in December 2019, which followed Massachusetts’ November 2018 launch.

Other articles that CBT readers engaged with most this month included those covering California’s mandatory recall for products contaminated with a deadly pesticide, comments submitted on the federal government’s proposed rescheduling rule, and a gene editing technology that could revolutionize cannabis breeding and crop production.

Catch up on the top 10 most-read articles below: