Weed cultivators, start your grow lamps.
Well, hold up, actually, unless you're FN Group Holdings — the first applicant to receive a certificate of operations to grow medicinal marijuana from the state of Ohio. The company will grow the crop under the name Wellspring Fields in Ravenna, a town in Portage County southeast of Cleveland.
The company was one of 25 to receive provisional licenses issued by the state after hundreds of groups applied, and the first to get the go-ahead today after an inspection of its grow site Tuesday. A certificate of operations is needed before cultivation can begin. The state has scheduled at least six more inspections over the next few months.
The state's roll out of its medicinal marijuana program — approved last year by state lawmakers — and its licensing process for cultivators and vendors have experienced some hiccups, including lawsuits from applicants over mistakes in the state's application scoring process. The state law establishing the medicinal marijuana program stipulates the state must have the basis for its program in place by Sept. 8, though actual availability of medicinal marijuana for patients with a number of approved illnesses from epilepsy to cancer will likely take longer.
