The State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy has published the final numbers for medical marijuana patients and caregivers in 2019.
Active Ohio MMJ Patients
To qualify for a patient MMJ card in the state of Ohio, you must meet the criteria for at least one of the 21 qualifying conditions. An additional 28 conditions are currently under review of the Board of Pharmacy.
As of December 31, there have been 83,857 recommendations made, and 78,376 patients registered. Back in August, state regulators estimated a total of 53,082 patients to have been registered. The final four months of the year brought in over 20,000 additional MMJ patients.
Ohio MMJ Patient Breakdown
Of these almost 80-thousand registered patients, 5,617 hold Veteran Status, 4,398 hold Indigent Status and 449 face a terminal diagnosis. In total, Ohio’s MMJ program has 8,259 Registered Caregivers.
Patient Purchases Strikingly Low
Set-backs in construction, law interpretation, and approval processes have massively delayed the progress of Ohio’s MMJ program. Despite falling short on most projections, a great number of patients still sought out cannabis treatment options.
Licensed dispensaries reported 55,617 unique patient purchases of MMJ to OARRS totaling $56 million. For perspective, Illinois cannabis brought in more than $10.8 million in the first five days of sales. Ohio’s MMJ sales included 6,713 lbs. of plant material and 287,149 units of manufactured product like tinctures and oils. Currently, 47 out of 57 licensed dispensaries in Ohio have received a Certificate of Operation.
Year Two of Ohio’s MMJ Program
This will no doubt be an interesting year for cannabis in Ohio. Governor DeWine (re-elected to serve in office until 2023) recently referred to legalization as a “mistake.”
The governor reported to the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau that today’s marijuana is “more potent than in the past, and could pose a health risk for young people.” Most MMJ card holders in Ohio are between the ages of 40 and 69.
Meanwhile, neighboring states have passed recreational cannabis laws that have jumpstarted with incredible profits. Across the nation, data shows the approval rating of marijuana legalization to fall somewhere between 70 and 90%.
