After Five years, a moratorium that prohibits the cultivation, processing, or retail dispensing of medical marijuana within the municipal limits is passed and the city is giving residents an opportunity for feedback.
The city posted a 15-question survey on its website, and the goal is to gather the information, share it with City Council and to consider whether to change legislation, said Missy Knight, city spokeswoman.
She expects the survey to be on the website for four to five weeks, and she’s busy placing flyers around public areas in the city directing residents to the web site. Those who complete the survey will be eligible for a $25 Middletown restaurant dining gift card.
There are no cultivation sites in Butler County and there are retail dispensing businesses in Monroe and Seven Mile.
Read more: State of Medical Marijuana in Mississippi – Will It Be Available?
This spring the Ohio Board of Pharmacy approved adding 73 dispensary licenses statewide, including three in Monroe, pushing the city’s total to four.
Once all dispensaries are operational, Monroe, with a population of 15,412, will have one marijuana business per 3,853 residents, the highest rate in the state.
The only Ohio cities that will have more dispensaries than Monroe are Columbus (15), Cincinnati (11), Cleveland (5) and Dayton (5). Monroe is tied for fifth with Canton that has a population more than four times larger at 70,872.
n illegal cannabis cultivation site in the city of Buellton in Santa Barbara County, Calif. Authorities seized 20 tons of illegal cannabis in June in a raid that lasted four days.
Of the provisional licenses in the state, those include three in Butler County, two in Warren County, four in Montgomery County and two in Miami County.
There are 59 dispensaries operating statewide now, including nine in this region: two in Butler County, one in Warren County, three in Montgomery County, two in Clark County and one in Greene County.
Strawberry Fields opened at 300 N. Main St. in Monroe in the fall of 2019. Jimmy Gould, the owner, said he sold that business last year and it’s called Columbia Care.
Two of the provisional licenses in Monroe were granted to Shangri-La Dispensary Ohio and one to Deaver Ohio. No locations have been announced for Shangri-La, but Deaver will be located at 1312 Ohio 63, according to the Ohio Department of Pharmacy.
