Medical marijuana hits the Ohio market this week

The long wait is almost over for supporters of medical marijuana in Ohio.

After months of delays, the first batches of medical cannabis are expected to be sold this week to approved patients.

The state initially wanted marijuana products available in dispensaries by September. But thanks to delays, the state’s cannabis growers didn’t get started until last summer, and marijuana takes months to cultivate.

Matt Wagner is a senior chemist at North Coast Testing Laboratories LLC in Streetsboro, the first lab approved by the state to test medicinal marijuana crops. Wagner and his colleagues in molecular microbiology and analytic chemistry are the last piece in Ohio’s medical marijuana puzzle. The leafy, dry marijuana they’re testing — intended for vaping until processing plants start churning out oils, edibles and other products — should start shipping from some cultivators at rates of 750 pounds every three weeks. Buckeye Relief in Eastlake, AT-CPC in Akron and three others in Ohio have already harvested at least one crop.

Smaller-scale growers are pheno-hunting, tinkering with various cannabis strains and grow methods to perfect their practice and product. [Read more at Akron Beacon Journal]