Ohioans don't have to look far for the economic promise of legal recreational cannabis – Michigan's market sold more than $3 billion worth of cannabis last year, enjoying almost $280 million in total sales in December alone.
With the 2023 passage of Issue 2, Northeast Ohio cultivators and dispensary owners can look to Michigan and other states where adult-use recreational cannabis has been legalized on how to build and improve upon a recreational cannabis ecosystem, said area cannabis experts and entrepreneurs.
Even as Ohio lawmakers consider two competing bills that would alter the market, the state can cast a wide net over existing licensing, regulatory, and taxation frameworks, noted Julie Winter, vice president of retail operations at Ayr Wellness, a Miami-based cannabis company with a retail shop in Woodmere.
Speed to market is a good starting point, as state officials will be weighing a deluge of license applications in the coming months, said Winter. Michigan, which approved adult-use legalization in 2018, had 2,170 licensed cannabis businesses at the end of 2023. This figure included 751 retailers, 250 processors, and 46 cannabis event organizers.
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