Listening to consumers and a frontline worker navigating Ohio’s still-unfinished cannabis market
Last week, I asked Ohio a simple question: How do we feel about our cannabis system?
Ohio told me.
I posted the question to Reddit during halftime of the Buckeyes game. The post received more than 100,000 views and over 250 comments from people describing their experiences with Ohio’s legal cannabis market.
What followed was a long conversation about what legalization feels like in practice.
People talked about prices, product sizes, dispensary websites and the overall shopping experience. Many said they would rather drive to Michigan, grow cannabis at home or buy it from someone they know. Some described Ohio’s system as a “racket” or a “cartel.” Others said they had simply stopped participating.
They’re harsh words, but they did not appear out of nowhere.
In February 2026, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced an antitrust lawsuit against nine multistate cannabis operators. The lawsuit alleges that the companies entered reciprocal purchasing agreements, shared competitively sensitive information and used distribution practices that disadvantaged independent Ohio businesses. According to the attorney general’s office, the alleged conduct reduced consumer choice and helped maintain artificially high prices.
Those remain allegations in an ongoing lawsuit, not proven findings. Still, the case provides important context for the distrust expressed by consumers and for why words such as “cartel” have entered Ohio’s cannabis conversation.
The responses were not entirely negative. Some people appreciate being able to purchase tested, labeled cannabis without relying on an informal connection. For older consumers, medical patients and people who no longer “know someone,” legal access can be meaningful. Legalization itself remains worth celebrating.
The comments left me with a more practical question.
What happens to the person who cannot drive to Michigan, cannot grow cannabis where they live and does not have someone outside the legal system to call?
For that person, an Ohio dispensary may remain the closest, safest or only realistic access point. If people are still using a system they find expensive and confusing, how can they navigate it more successfully? And what can the companies operating that system learn from what consumers are telling them?
To explore those questions, I spoke with Adam Walker.
The person behind the counter
I know Adam from working together in Ohio cannabis. He has worked in dispensary security and customer-facing roles across three Ohio dispensary workplaces. He once traveled a considerable distance from near the Ohio–West Virginia border for the opportunity to work in the industry.
Adam has watched customers enter dispensaries nervous, excited, frustrated, confused and sometimes already defeated by their budgets. He has heard many of the same complaints that appeared in the Reddit discussion. More importantly, he has spent time helping people decide what to do next.
Cannabis is personal to Adam. It helped him reconnect with members of his family during difficult periods. In an earlier conversation, he told me, “Cannabis makes the world less scary for me.”
That relationship shapes how he approaches customers. His value is not simply memorizing product names. It is listening to someone present a pile of incomplete information and turning it into a decision they can actually use.
When I asked Adam what type of customer he sees most often, he answered immediately.
“Budget customers, 100%.”
Many people do not enter an Ohio dispensary searching for the perfect terpene profile or a carefully selected brand. They arrive with a spending limit. Their first question is not always, “What product best fits me?” It is often, “How much can I walk out with?”
Adam said customers commonly search for high THC percentages, stronger gummies or the largest amount of flower available within their budget. He rarely hears someone begin by asking for a specific terpene.
That does not necessarily mean consumers are uninterested in learning. It may mean THC, quantity and price are the clearest information the market has taught them to use. When menus contain dozens or hundreds of unfamiliar products, a percentage and a price become the easiest comparison.
Most American consumers enter a store carrying years of brand knowledge with them. We recognize names at the grocery store, the shoe store and almost everywhere else we shop. We may not know every product, but we usually understand how the major brands are positioned.
Ohio cannabis does not offer consumers that same familiarity. Imagine walking into a shoe store where Nike, Adidas, New Balance and Under Armour have disappeared and every shelf is filled with names you have never seen. You could examine the shoes, compare their materials and try them on, but you would lose the brand history that normally helps you judge quality, price and what might fit your needs.
Cannabis creates an even stranger version of that problem because legal brands and product availability often change from state to state. Someone may understand cultivation, terpenes, THC or even how to make hash at home and still have no idea how Ohio’s brands are structured. A person can know a great deal about cannabis without knowing how to shop for cannabis in Ohio.
The customer is not only shopping for cannabis. The customer is trying to translate a personal need into a retail purchase while navigating limited information, changing inventory and financial pressure.
That is more complicated than telling someone to buy an indica or choose the product with the highest number.
Building a customer profile
Adam told me that the first three to five minutes with a customer matter. He listens for what the person wants, what they have used before, what worked, what failed, how they prefer to consume cannabis and how much they can spend.
“Always have, like, an objective in mind of what you are after,” he said.
A customer might say they want to relax, sleep, feel intoxicated, avoid feeling overly intoxicated or stay within a particular budget. Someone else may only know that they previously purchased something they liked and want to find it again.
Adam’s job is to organize those fragments.
The framework I took from our conversations looks like this:
- Define the desired experience. What does the person want to feel, and what do they want to avoid?
- Consider the circumstances. Where will the product be used? Are smell, privacy, housing rules, time or convenience factors?
- Choose a delivery method. Does flower, vapor, an edible, a topical or another format fit those circumstances?
- Establish the limits. What is the budget? How experienced is the consumer? What products or amounts have they previously tolerated?
- Review what is actually available. The ideal product on paper does not help if it is unaffordable or absent from the menu.
- Create a fallback. If the preferred product disappears, what characteristics can help identify a reasonable alternative?
The product comes last because a good recommendation has to fit a real person’s life—not just a product description.
Not everyone can leave the system
Many Reddit commenters offered a straightforward solution to Ohio’s prices: drive to Michigan.
I’ve driven to Michigan for cannabis myself, but Adam and I also discussed why it cannot be treated as a universal answer.
People do not always have access to a vehicle they trust for the trip. Other people may lack a vehicle altogether. The journey also requires fuel, time and enough money to make a larger purchase worthwhile.
“Time is money,” Adam said.
A parent, an older adult, someone working multiple jobs or a person relying on somebody else for transportation may not have an entire day available for cannabis shopping. A discounted product in another state is not equally accessible to everyone.
Home cultivation presents similar limitations. Not everyone owns a home, controls their living environment or has space where cannabis can be grown securely. Renters, people with roommates, parents and those living with family may not be able to cultivate. Even when someone can begin growing, the process requires knowledge, equipment and time before it produces usable cannabis.
“Knowing someone” is not a universal form of access either. Some consumers do not have an informal connection. Others want labeled and regulated products or simply do not want the uncertainty of an illegal transaction.
These consumers continue using Ohio dispensaries because the dispensary may be the closest, safest or only realistic option available to them. Their participation should not be mistaken for satisfaction.
The education gap at the counter
Customers also bring health questions into dispensaries. They ask about pain, sleep, anxiety and other personal concerns—sometimes because their doctor, pharmacist or another medical professional has not been willing or able to discuss cannabis with them.
I asked Adam directly whether budtenders should give medical advice.
“No, I don’t,” he said.
Budtenders can explain how a product is used, what information appears on its label, what equipment it requires and how different product formats generally work. They can discuss their own experiences when those experiences are clearly presented as personal. They should not diagnose a condition, promise an outcome or substitute a retail recommendation for medical care.
That boundary is necessary, but it exposes a gap in Ohio’s system. Customers may not have a cannabis-informed medical professional to consult, while the budtender standing in front of them may have limited training and only a few minutes before helping the next person.
The person customers are most comfortable asking may be the person least equipped—and least authorized—to provide a medical answer.
Adam believes better education before a customer reaches the counter would help both the shopper and the worker. That could include clearer online resources, more detailed product explanations or a separate educational consultation for people who need more time than an ordinary transaction allows.
When a product cannot be used
Some educational failures are even more basic.
Adam described customers purchasing vape pods without realizing they also needed a compatible battery. A 510 cartridge generally requires a 510-threaded battery. Some pods only work with a particular device, while other platforms may support products from several brands. A disposable usually includes its own battery.
To an experienced consumer, those differences may seem obvious. To someone shopping for the first time, returning after many years or switching from flower to vapor, they are not.
A customer can legally purchase a product, leave the store and discover that they have no way to use it.
That costs the customer money and time. It can create returns and complaints for the dispensary. More importantly, it damages trust. A person who already felt uncertain may conclude that legal cannabis is too confusing and decide not to return.
That is not simply a careless customer. It is a communication failure that could have been prevented before the sale.
Learn the profile, not only the product
Another problem appears after someone finally finds a product they like: it disappears.
Cannabis inventory changes. A preferred strain may not return. A particular brand may rotate out of a dispensary. A sale can clear the inventory before the customer arrives.
Adam described the process of finding cannabis as trial and error. The stronger response is not permanent attachment to a single name. It is learning from the experience.
The first few purchases may require patience. Someone might choose a product they do not enjoy, discover that a delivery method does not fit their life or realize that a product is not worth buying again. The goal is not to make a perfect decision on the first visit. The goal is for each experience to produce information that improves the next decision.
Over time, the consumer can begin recognizing patterns. They may discover which formats they prefer, which product characteristics matter to them and which Ohio brands regularly offer products within their budget. That familiarity allows them to move beyond chasing one strain or purchasing whatever happens to have the highest THC percentage.
A consumer can record the product, delivery method, package size, price, amount used and relevant information from the label. They can also document what they wanted to experience, what actually happened and whether they would purchase it again.
That history will not perfectly predict another cannabis experience. It does, however, give the consumer and budtender something more useful than starting over.
Past products become tools for comparison rather than objects the customer must endlessly chase.
Navigating products—and then dispensaries
Once someone begins understanding products, another layer appears: every dispensary operates differently.
Menus, inventory, promotions and website quality vary from one location to another. A customer with several dispensaries nearby may compare them. Someone with one local store, limited transportation or a narrow schedule may have no meaningful choice.
Adam explained what happens when someone tries to navigate those differences with only one piece of information: “I have $60. What can I get?”
The customer can become, in his words, “overwhelmed and underwhelmed” at the same time—overwhelmed by the number of products and underwhelmed by what the budget can purchase.
There is a substantial difference between walking into a dispensary with no preparation and arriving with a developing personal profile. The first customer may ask the budtender to choose something at random or repeatedly purchase the same product without knowing what to do when it disappears. Every visit begins from zero.
The second customer is gradually building a system. They talk with friends, review menus, ask the budtender specific questions and keep track of products they liked. Eventually, they begin understanding which brands offer the product categories they use, which dispensaries regularly carry them and when those products are likely to be discounted.
When someone reaches that point, shopping can become a rhythm rather than a guessing game. They can enter with a shortlist, recognize a reasonable substitute and plan purchases around recurring promotions when their schedule and budget allow. They are no longer asking the dispensary to make the entire decision for them.
Watching promotions can help. Some dispensaries repeat category discounts, early-bird specials or particular sale days. A consumer may be able to learn that rhythm, monitor several menus and purchase preferred products when the price falls.
But that advice has limits. A sale available during working hours does not help someone who cannot leave work. A heavily discounted product may sell out before a person’s ride arrives. Constantly monitoring websites requires time, internet access and enough nearby competition to make comparison possible.
Some consumers pay for Ohio cannabis with money. Others also pay with time.
What Ohio dispensaries can do now
Consumers can become better prepared, but they cannot educate or comparison-shop their way out of every structural problem.
Dispensaries can make current promotions clear when customers enter. Websites can identify hardware requirements, package sizes and unavailable inventory. Sales can become predictable enough for people to plan around them. Stores can maintain genuinely affordable choices rather than treating affordability as an occasional promotion.
Workers also need consistent education. A budtender should understand the available product formats, current promotions and common compatibility problems well enough to prevent avoidable mistakes.
For customers who need more than a quick transaction, dispensaries could create a separate educational pathway. That might be an appointment, scheduled consultation or designated employee who can explain product categories without holding up a busy line or crossing into medical advice.
Adam’s argument also makes business sense. Better education can mean fewer incompatible purchases, fewer returns, more appropriate product matches and customers who feel confident enough to return. A person who understands how to find an alternative is less likely to abandon the store when one product disappears.
Education is not an extra service added after the sale. It is part of the infrastructure that makes a legal market usable.
Listening to the worker
This is also a worker story.
Budtenders absorb customer frustration about prices, taxes, inventory, websites and regulations they did not create. They are expected to translate an enormous catalog of products while maintaining the pace of a retail business. Some receive meaningful training; others learn through personal experience, coworkers and repeated customer interactions.
People such as Adam enter cannabis because they believe in it and want to help. That enthusiasm can be used to improve the industry, but it can also be taken for granted. Passion does not replace adequate pay, education or a sustainable career path.
Frontline workers know where customers repeatedly become confused. They see which products are returned, which questions go unanswered and which experiences cause people to leave. Ohio companies should treat that knowledge as valuable consumer information—not background noise from the sales floor.
What happens next?
Ohio told me that people are frustrated.
Adam did not tell me those people were wrong. He confirmed that price shapes much of what happens at the counter. He also showed that consumers who still need Ohio dispensaries can build a better process.
Define the experience before choosing the brand. Consider the setting in which cannabis will actually be used. Understand the delivery method and hardware. Track previous products. Compare complete prices and package sizes, not THC alone. Bring a shortlist and a fallback. Use the budtender for product education without expecting medical advice.
Those steps can help someone navigate Ohio today.
They do not excuse Ohio from building something better tomorrow.
Consumers should not need insider-level knowledge, several dispensary menus and a perfectly timed sale to make an ordinary legal purchase. Workers should not be left to repair every information gap at the counter. Companies should not interpret continued shopping as proof that customers are satisfied.
Legalization answered whether Ohio adults could enter a regulated dispensary and purchase cannabis.
The question now is whether Ohio can create a system that fewer people feel forced to escape.
