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Medical Marijuana Purchases Are Low Despite Number of Patients Registered

TERI VERBICKIS
/
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Medical marijuana sales have been lower than expected possibly due to the fact that only nine of the 56 dispensaries approved for operation are open.

More than 5,400 Ohioans have purchased cannabis since sales began at dispensaries in mid-January. 

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy says 5,465 patients have purchased medical marijuana. And that’s only about 28 percent of the number of patients registered for the program. One reason why so few are buying it could be due to the fact that only nine of the 56 dispensaries approved for operation are open. Most are in Eastern or Northeastern Ohio. And product is limited because processors aren’t yet operational.

Two hundred one pounds of medical marijuana have sold since the first two dispensaries opened on January 16th.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.