BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Ohio are buzzing after many of them applied to sell recreational marijuana. This comes seven months after voters passed Issue 2.
Now dispensaries are one step closer to rolling out the high life to anyone 21 or older.
WTOL 11 spoke to people in Bowling Green who were excited for recreational marijuana to come so close to home.
"I think it's really exciting and long overdue," said Bowling Green resident Aria Piekos. "It's just going to add a lot more traffic to the city and bring a lot of opportunity."
The Ohio Division of Cannabis Control said 140,000 medical users can go up to 2 million adult use users.
The manager at Nectar on South Main Street in Bowling Green said the dispensary already submitted the application to become recreational. These are customers "Nectareen" Zach Gergich said he and his staff are preparing for.
"We're definitely looking forward to the influx of business," Gergich said. "We're gearing up, getting our staff trained, getting more people hired. We'll be ready for when it comes."
Applications can take up to two weeks to process and recreational sales could start as soon as the end of this month, according to the ODCC.
The division anticipates a majority of the 126 medical dispensaries in Ohio will apply for a permit.
Once a dispensary's application is approved, it'll be up to the business to decide when it wants to start selling recreationally.
For Nectar, that'll be as soon as the application is approved.
"It's kind of a waiting game depending on the state," Gergich said. "But we know that we got all of our licenses and compliance already. So, we hope to be one of the first in the state to start selling recreationally."
Dispensaries aren't the only ones preparing, though.
Sandy Wiechman, safe communities coordinator for Wood County, said the organization is preparing too.
"The main thing we want to impress is education," Wiechman said.
She wants everyone to know what they can and can't do with recreational marijuana, especially when it comes to driving.
"If you're driving impaired, you will be arrested," she said. "It's just like alcohol, we don't want you to drive impaired."
While safety is on the minds of the workers at Nectar, Gergich believes recreational use will bring opportunities for everyone.
"It'll be more positives than negatives of it," Gergich said. "Even just tax dollars and revenue for things we need around the state will be huge."
When it comes to the tax revenue the state could receive, The Ohio State University projects by year five of the adult-use marijuana program, the state could collect between $276-$403 million in overall tax revenue.
At this time, only medical marijuana dispensaries in Ohio are able to apply for a recreational permit.