The Ohio Board of Pharmacy received more than 1,400 applications for medical marijuana dispensary licenses after announcing the plan to increase the number of maximum allowed medical marijuana dispensaries in the state from 60 to 130.
Of the more than 1,400 businesses to apply for the available 73 medical marijuana dispensary licenses in Ohio, three of them are hoping to be licensed in Guernsey County.
The three businesses are: VC5 Holdings LLC, Citizen Real Estate, and SEO Natural Enterprises.
While Citizen Real Estate, which does business as Klutch Cannabis, submitted 73 applications for locations all across the state, they applied for only one license to operate a dispensary in Guernsey County at a location on West Hill Lane in Caldwell.
SEO Natural Enterprises is looking for a license to dispense medical marijuana at a location on John Glenn Highway in Cambridge.
VC5 Holdings LLC has submitted license applications for six locations: Garland Road, New Concord, Wildflower Drive, New Concord, two locations on John Glenn Highway, Cambridge, Cadiz Road, Cambridge and on Batesville Road in Quaker City.
The applications which have not to date been made public and required a $5,000 fee will be reviewed to ensure they meet operations and security requirements.
After review, it will be luck of the draw for the qualified applicants as to whether they receive a license, which will be awarded by lottery and based on the number allocated for each dispensary district.
Previously the Southeast 7 dispensary district which includes New Concord in Muskingum county and the Southeast 8 district which includes Guernsey and Noble Counties were both allotted one dispensary in the each district. The increase now allows for two in each district. There are no current dispensaries in Muskingum, Guernsey or Noble counties.
The Ohio Board of Pharmacy which is expected to announce the selected license recipients this month has released no other details on how the award process will work.