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Analyst: Ohio Medical Marijuana Industry Could Be Big Economic Boost
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, OHIO — Though the state is still hammering out the details of how its medical marijuana program will work when the law allowing it takes effect next month, experts are predicting it will be a multi-hundred million dollar industry.
An analyst tracking the pot industry estimates Ohio medical marijuana sales of up to $400 million a year. And the reason for that buried in the list of conditions in the law for which doctors will be able to recommend pot.
“In states that include pain as a condition, you can see anywhere from 1% to 2% of the population sign up for cards and begin buying medical marijuana,” Chris Walsh with Marijuana Business Daily said.
The law takes effect September 8, and there’s no word on how many cultivation licenses will be issued. A request for $1.8 million in funding for the medical pot program goes before a panel of lawmakers on Monday.
Walsh has also been in Ohio this week holding workshops on how entrepreneurs can set up medical marijuana related businesses and the major challenges therein.
“You have banking issues,” he said. “A lot of companies that touch cannabis have trouble getting bank accounts. Seventy percent of them, according to surveys we’ve done of executives, seventy percent of companies that handle marijuana don’t have a bank account.”