TOLEDO, Ohio — Ahead of the November election and the potential legalization of recreational marijuana in Ohio, some local CBD dispensaries are already making plans and preparations if Issue 2 passes.
The Toledo Hemp Center owner Kevin Spitler said his store has been primed and ready since they opened 10 years ago to sell cannabis the moment it becomes legal. A decade later, Spitler said it has taken longer than they ever thought it would to get the issue on the ballot. However, he said after his positive experiences with cannabis over the years, he plans to make the switch the first day he can.
Spitler said he opened the shop because he witnessed the medical effects of cannabis firsthand while working at a marijuana dispensary in Kalamazoo. During his time there, he received shocking news: his mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Spitler claimed cannabis use allowed his mother to improve her quality of life during her illness.
"She had a few months to live, according to her doctor, so I started bringing her down cannabis products and she ended up sticking around for a year, a lot longer than the doctors anticipated, and she go to see everyone's birthdays one more time," he said. "So when she passed I thought, 'How can I keep helping people here in Ohio?'"
That was when the Toledo Hemp Center was born.
Spitler said he originally wanted his shop to be a dispensary, just like the one he worked at in Michigan, but with marijuana still illegal in Ohio, he decided to sell its sister chemical, CBD, instead. CBD is found in hemp and does not contain THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana that makes someone high. People with chronic pain, like 74-year-old Mary Turnow, said CBD gave her significant relief.
"I have sciatic issues, and that's why I'm here again," Turnow said while shopping at the Toledo Hemp Center. "I call it my liquid gold, I really do. I don't know how else to explain it. It's wonderful."
If Issue 2 passes, Spitler said he could begin selling cannabis as he originally planned, offering his customers the same products he gave his mom during her illness.
"The market for THC marijuana is huge," he said. "You go up to some of the dispensaries and you can see the parking lots are full of Ohio plates and get thousands of customers a day, while we get a few hundred."
While Spitler said he was certain he wanted to move into the cannabis business if it becomes an option, he admitted after spending the last decade earning his elderly customers, he's worried that selling weed might scare them away.
"If grandma can come into my store, anyone can," he said.
Turnow said she wouldn't mind the store's transition if it came to that.
"I'm not a weed smoker, but if this is what works... you know," she said, shrugging.
While the rules and regulations to register as an establishment that sells marijuana haven't been written yet, Spitler said he'll sign up the moment he's given the opportunity.
Ohio voters will decide that when they take to the polls on Nov. 7.
MORE LOCAL HEADLINES FROM WTOL 11