Finding their Bliss: Medical marijuana dispensary expects to open this week in Kent

Who would have thought marijuana would be sold legally next to a courthouse?

Portage County should have two medical marijuana dispensaries open for business this month, after Supergood Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Ravenna started sales the first week of April and Bliss Ohio, located next to the Kent Municipal Court, plans to begin sales this week.

The retail stores will join three Summit County dispensaries with commercial licenses: two in Akron and one in Cuyahoga Falls. Two other dispensaries are pending approval in Akron and Cuyahoga Falls.

A list of stores with operating licenses can be found at medicalmarijuanaohio.gov.

Akron's stores include Bloom Medicinals at 737 E. North Street and The Botanist at S. Summit Street. The Cuyahoga Falls store is licensed as Curaleaf at 1220 Buchholzer Blvd. Stores pending approval would be at 1568 Archwood Ave. in Akron and at 1682 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls.

The Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program, authorized in 2016, is now in its fifth year, after the first retail stores opened in January 2019. The state has granted more than 70 certificates of operation, with other provisional licensees pending final approval. No other dispensaries are planned at this time for Summit or Portage counties.

Summit County's first store: Medical marijuana dispensed

Medical marijuana a 'growing' business

Medical marijuana sales and tax revenue in Ohio have steadily increased over the years as more dispensaries open.

Last April, medical marijuana sales for the month were over $48 million and in all of 2022, Ohio collected more than $25 million in state sales taxes. Communities collected about $6.5 million in taxes statewide, according to a report from the Ohio State University.

Supergood, at 554 North Chestnut St. in Ravenna, plans to have a grand opening on April 20, widely known as "Weed Day" for various reasons, according to a store employee.

The employee said the shop has been open for about one week.

Pamela Siekman, who owns Bliss with husband, Dwayne, said they plan to have their grand opening on April 21, as they expect the state to grant a final certificate of operation this week.

Multiple products provide medicinal benefits

At an open house Friday, Bliss General Manager Haley Richards said she's worked at Summit County stores since they opened and has seen the benefits marijuana can bring firsthand.

She said it isn't always obvious that customers are suffering from any of the two dozen authorized medical conditions physicians can cite in referring a patient for an Ohio Medical Marijuana Card.

On the other hand, she said sometimes the benefits seem clear.

"We had a patient that typically came in a couple times a week to purchase cannabis, and he would always come in a wheelchair," she said. "After a few months, I saw him right before I was leaving that job. He had been able to medicate with cannabis and manage his pain so much that he was able to switch mobility aids and moved from a wheelchair into a walker, so he was really excited about that increase in mobility."

The Kent store has employed about 15 "Bliss-Tenders," a play on the term bud-tender used in marijuana dispensaries. One of them Carter Munsterman, who said he spent about a year and $12,000 studying the industry at the Cleveland School of Cannabis.

He said that in addition to products that are vaporized and inhaled, there are edible products and even topical products that do not produce psychoactive effects. Common ailments involve pain, which Munsterman said can be treated in various ways with different products. He said several types of cannabinoids present in marijuana have different effects on the body.

"It depends on a type of pain that you're having," he said. "If it's nerve pain and you're looking for something throughout the day, you could always go with something transdermal, like a lotion. That way it doesn't go through your blood-brain barrier − so you can actually ease pain without getting high."

Ohio marijuana laws may be changing

Pamela Siekman noted the business might change within the next year, as the Ohio Legislature considers Senate Bill 9, while at the same time a petition drive for a recreational marijuana program is possible.

More: Ohio lawmakers want to add conditions eligible for medical marijuana, increase dispensaries

The Siekmans are among those lobbying for Senate Bill 9.

"Our background is we're lobbyists and we've been working in the medical program since the legislation was being formed in the Statehouse," Pamela Siekman said.

"We're trying to work to to ease access to patients and lower cost. The other interesting thing about that legislation is it has reciprocity. So if you come from another state and you have a medical card, or you could just simply register it quick process online here and you can purchase it in Ohio. That will certainly help businesses here.

"We're trying to get more patients into the system − it's a little cumbersome and it's not easy for them. There's still certainly a stigma around cannabis, but we're hoping that people will truly see it as an alternative medicine."

Quality matters, says local marijuana cultivator

If Senate Bill 9 is approved, or a recreational marijuana measure is passed, marijuana prices in Ohio would likely drop and residents may be able to grow their own plants at home.

That wouldn't be a problem, said Geoff Korff, CEO of Galenas, a cultivator based on South Main Street in Akron. Korff, who was also at the open house, said his firm employs about 25 in Akron to tend to about 2,000 plants in 3,000 square feet of indoor space. His firm employs another 25 at a grow operation in Michigan.

Although his firm is one of the smaller growers, he said he sells to most of the state's dispensaries, along with producers who take raw plant material and fabricate edibles, oils and other products under his firm's own label.

For now, there is not too much threat of interstate competition, even though some Ohioans visit Michigan to purchase cheaper pot from recreational dispensaries to bring home illegally. And while Galenas grows marijuana in Michigan, the company can't bring that product into Ohio.

"Because cannabis or marijuana is still federally illegal, it's still scheduled drug, no interstate commerce is permitted," he said.

An attorney who formerly worked with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to get medical marijuana legislation passed in Ohio, Korff said he would welcome loosening restrictions.

"We're in favor of home growth for patients," he said. "We we think it's an important part of any healthy program because not everybody has the ability to go to dispensaries and, you know, pay the money to get access to it.

"I think also there's a difference in quality, or at least for our company, we think there's a difference in quality between home-grown and what we're producing."

Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Bliss Ohio medical marijuana dispensary set to open this week in Kent