GIBSONBURG, Ohio — Marijuana businesses across Northeast Ohio are already setting in motion serious expansion plans now that recreational cannabis will be legal with the passage of Issue 2 on Tuesday.
Cleveland-based marijuana business Standard Wellness, which operates a grow house in Gibsonburg in Sandusky County, told 3News they are doubling operations.
"We're really excited that the voters of the state of Ohio delivered a clear mandate," CEO Jared Maloof said of Issue 2 passing.
They currently are cultivating 7,000 marijuana plants, have 150 employees and run three dispensaries. Maloof said now that Issue 2 has passed, they plan to double all of those figures by the end of next year, multiplying their revenue by five. He called that proof of how big of an industry recreational marijuana will be for Ohio.
"It means more jobs," he said. "It means providing more high-quality product to patients and customers, helping more people, and for the state of Ohio it means $250 to $400 million of tax revenue to do all sorts of things. That's revenue that currently goes up to Michigan and we'd like to keep that here in Ohio."
Maloof explained further why Michigan plays a factor in future revenue growth.
"Michigan is a $2.8 billion marketplace," he said. "We estimate that as much as $500 million of that revenue is from Ohio residents that travel up north to acquire marijuana."
Their Gibsonburg facility is about 60,000 square feet, but only about 90% is being used at this time. Standard Wellness said once Issue 2 passed, they immediately started building out that remaining 10,000 square feet to grow more marijuana.
"It's huge," said Michael Wells, VP of Revenue. "Our business right now services about 160,000 patients, and in the recreational program, we'll service five times that easily. Customers will have better access to medicine and cannabis products across the state. We're really excited. You see our grow rooms here. We're going to certainly look to expand those as well to serve a larger customer base."
After they build out the current cultivation facility, they plan to build more buildings in the extra land they have around it.
Maloof said it won't be until next September that any adult can walk into a dispensary to buy recreational marijuana. At that point, business should skyrocket. He is expecting record sales for the fourth quarter of 2024.
3News asked Maloof if he has any concerns about the lawmakers who are threatening to edit or repeal the new law.
“So, the legislature and the governor can make changes," Maloof said. "They could do a full outright appeal. We don’t expect that. With a 57% mandate of the people, we think it would be an unwise decision for anyone to make modifications to this law.”
He intends to confidently move forward with their aggressive growth plans.