OHIO, USA — Jeff McCourt is the founder and CEO of Firelands Scientific, a medical dispensary with five locations in Ohio, and he's been closely following Issue 2 and the state Senate's efforts to revise it.
"The talk over the past month since Issue 2 passed is that it would probably take a year or more to roll out, which is way too long from our perspective," McCourt said.
He said he's glad to hear that the newest Senate proposal will allow dispensaries to sell in 90 days after approval instead of a whole year.
"We're really excited that it looks like the House, and hopefully the House and [Gov. Mike DeWine] can all get behind a proposal that will accelerate the rollout of the program to make adult-use products available for consumers, adults, more quickly," he said.
In a press conference Wednesday, DeWine urged state lawmakers to quickly get the bill on his desk for a signature. He said the bill will speed up the time frame and will give a safer option for Ohioans, adding it will reduce the chance of a marijuana black market flourishing.
McCourt said he also hopes the new bill will minimize the chance of Ohioans buying their weed off the street.
"We see it all over the place, elicit, unregulated, unscrupulous shops that are setting up, people selling online and it's really important that that genie doesn't get out of the bottle," he said.
McCourt said there are parts of the revised bill he thinks could be better, like the potency cap. He said it would make it harder to offer the same products consumers are used to, like some types of vapes.
"We're hopeful that there's an opportunity to work through this and massage the language a little bit before a final bill gets passed," he said. "And that the tax rate ultimately doesn't end up in a spot that's so high that it disincentivizes people to participate in the legal, regulated, tax-safe market."
Even if the bill proposal is passed soon, it won't be until March or early spring that dispensaries are set to sell, McCourt said.