Seven Mile Mayor Vivian Gorsuch said officials have been told by the business owners that opening is imminent.
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“Their plan is for the building to be finished by the end of August,” she told the Journal-News. “After that happens the pharmacy board has to approve it.”
Three parcels in the 400 block of Main Street sold for a total of $675,000 in December to 127 OH LLC. Mark Hyde paid a total of $45,000 for the parcels in 1994.
The Seven Mile site will be one of five in the state for Bloom Medicinals.
“Patients will be able to select from a variety of medical cannabis oils, flower, tinctures and transdermal patches that best fit your needs for your qualifying condition,” the company wrote on its website.
“Educational events will be hosted for patients looking to learn more about our products, their benefits and uses allowed by the State of Ohio. As well as registration events for people looking to see if they qualify for medical marijuana.”
A 2016 law legalized marijuana for medicinal uses to treat 21 ailments, including cancer, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder or chronic pain. It allows multiple forms of medical marijuana to be sold, such as edibles, oils, patches and vaporizing, but smoking and home-grow operations arenot allowed.
State records show 26 of the 56 provisional dispensary license-holders have received certificates of operation from the state pharmacy board as of Aug. 8. The Seven Mile location will need a pharmacy board inspection and certificate before it can open.
Valerie Charms Mason, the community outreach and patient consultant at Bloom Medicinals’ Painesville Twp. location, said she didn’t have any information about Seven Mile, but her store opened May 30. She said she had a patient call who said he hadn’t slept in 10 years but he did the night of his visit to their shop.
“We’ve been busy, it’s been fabulous, there’s always room for more patients obviously but we’ve been plenty busy,” she said. “We’ve exceeded our sales goals so that was a beautiful thing and we’re having a lot of patients with a lot of success, it’s really a tremendously rewarding experience.”
MORE: Seven Mile residents share mixed views on marijuana dispensary
As of Aug. 4, dispensaries statewide have sold $18 million worth of products to 30,284 patients. There are 53,082 patients registered to buy medical cannabis.
Seven Mile Councilman Jack Young wasn’t on council when the dispensary was locally approved and said he would have voted no. But he did vote in favor of dissolving the temporary moratorium last September so Bloom could get started building the new business.
He said the rest of council approved the medical pot emporium because they thought they would rake in revenue, but as it turns out, aside from increased property taxes the village will only collect some fees.
After the ban was lifted the council approved some regulations for the new business. There is a $500 for the license application, $15,000 for the license itself and there is a $250 renewal fee, according to the new regulations the village approved Sept. 10. These fees are on top of the state’s $5,000 application fee and $70,000 biennial certificate of operation fee.
Young said perhaps the new business will benefit the rest of the village.
“If a lot of people come into the village they might frequent our corner store up here, I don’t know,” he said, but added he isn’t concerned droves of people will flock to town, causing traffic headaches.
Gorsuch has said the village kept a ban in place against recreational weed.
“There is a ban against recreational marijuana and processing and cultivation, if that were to ever try to come to Seven Mile, even if the state allowed recreational,” Gorsuch said. “Council has put on a ban and it was voted on unanimously.”
Nicole van Rensburg, CEO of 127 OH LLC, told the Journal-News previously that the company chose Seven Mile because of its proximity to Ohio 127 and it is centrally located within a region that includes Butler, Darke and Preble counties.
Medical marijuana by-the-numbers:
$18 million: Total product sales
53,082: Number of registered patients
30,284: Number of unique patients who have purchased pot
2,144: Number of pounds of plant material sold as of Aug. 4
Source: State of Ohio
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