Ohio officials award medical marijuana grow license to company affected by scoring error

The Ohio Department of Commerce on Tuesday issued a 25th provisional license to grow medical marijuana to a company that was incorrectly booted from the top-scoring companies because of a department scoring error. 

Illinois-based PharmaCann Ohio LLC received a provisional license to grow up to 25,000 square feet at a site in Buckeye Lake. PharmaCann policy director Jeremy Unruh said the company is looking forward to beginning construction on its Ohio grow facility. 

"It's an opportunity for us to deliver what we promised not just to the Department of Commerce or the patients or the state but the people of Buckeye Lake," Unruh said.

In February, commerce officials discovered an employee had inadvertently downloaded one set of scores twice, resulting in 10 companies receiving incorrect scores. PharmaCann was the only company whose score prevented it from obtaining a license, according to the department.  

The department can issue up to 24 cultivation licenses before Sept. 8 -- 12 large-scale growers and 12 small-scale growers -- per the department's rules. A department spokeswoman said the rules also allow the agency to to "exercise any other power or duty" authorized by statute or rule when it is "necessary for the program's administration, implementation and enforcement."

"Taking an administrative action -- such as awarding an additional license -- to remedy an error made in the licensing process falls under the authority granted in this rule," spokeswoman Stephanie Gostomski said in an email.

PharmaCann scored 12th highest of all non-disqualified applicants for large-scale grow licenses. PharmaCann did not initially receive a license in November because the department awarded licenses to two lower-scoring minority-owned businesses to comply with the minority set-aside in state law.

PharmaCann sued the state over what it called the "racial quota" in December. Unruh said the provisional license achieves the company's goal with the complaint against the department. But the lawsuit might continue if Greenleaf Gardens, another company passed over for a minority-owned business is allowed to intervene.

If the correct scores had been recorded, PharmaCann would have ranked 8th and been awarded a provisional license.

State officials are trying to get Ohio's new medical marijuana program up and running by Sept. 8, when state law says the program must be "fully operational."

Provisional cultivator licenses were issued in November, and licensees have nine months to build their facilities and comply with all regulations before they can begin growing marijuana. Some cultivators expect to receive operating licenses this month.

Licenses for marijuana product processors and dispensaries are expected to be awarded in the coming weeks.

But the program could be put on hold by a Franklin County judge. Ohio Releaf LLC sued the state, arguing the Department of Commerce cannot issue certificates of operation without first ruling on its appeal and those from 66 other unsuccessful applicants. Judge Richard Frye plans to make a decision in that case this week.