Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
The department
shall provide advance notice to the public indicating the commencement date and
time period for accepting applications. The director shall have the right to
amend the notice prior to the deadline for submitting an application. The
director shall publish such amended notice in the same manner as the original
notice. The director shall also have the right to cancel a notice of open
application prior to the award of a cultivator provisional
license.
(B)
The provisional license application shall be submitted
in accordance with Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code and this chapter. The
application will include instructions for completion and submission. An
applicant for a level I cultivator provisional license shall be prohibited from
applying for a level II cultivator provisional license, and an applicant for a
level II cultivator provisional license shall be prohibited from applying for a
level I cultivator provisional license. An applicant for a level I or level II
cultivator provisional license shall submit, in accordance with the application
instructions, the following:
(1)
A non-refundable application fee as set forth in rule
3796:5-1-01 of the
Administrative Code;
(2)
A business plan, which, at a minimum, shall
include:
(a)
The legal name of the applicant;
(b)
The type of
business organization of the applicant, such as an individual, corporation,
partnership, limited liability company, association or cooperative, joint
venture, or any other business organization;
(c)
Confirmation that
the applicant is registered with the secretary of state as the type of business
submitted pursuant to paragraph (B)(2)(b) of this rule, a certificate of good
standing issued by the secretary of state, and a copy of the applicable
business documents governing the operations and administration of the
business;
(d)
The proposed physical address of the applicant's
facility;
(e)
An organizational chart of the company, including name,
address, and date of birth of each principal officer, board member and any
other individual associated with the cultivator, provided that all those
individuals shall be at least twenty-one years of age;
(f)
All persons
subject to the criminal records checks shall submit both an Ohio bureau of
criminal identification and investigation criminal records check and a federal
bureau of criminal investigation criminal records check pursuant to division
(B) of section 3796.12 of the Revised
Code;
(g)
Any instance in which a business that any person
associated with the applicant had managed or served on the board of the
business and was convicted, fined, censured, or had a registration or license
suspended or revoked in any administrative or judicial
proceeding;
(h)
Evidence that the applicant owns the property on which
the proposed cultivator will be located, has executed a lease for the property
that does not contain any use restrictions that would otherwise prevent the
cultivator from operating pursuant to Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code and in
accordance with the rules promulgated pursuant to Chapter 3796. of the Revised
Code, or has secured the ability to purchase or lease the property that does
not contain any use restrictions that would otherwise prevent the cultivator
from operating pursuant to Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code and in accordance
with the rules promulgated pursuant to Chapter 3796. of the Revised
Code;
(i)
A location area map of the area surrounding the
proposed cultivator that establishes the facility is at least five hundred feet
from the boundaries of a parcel of real estate having situated on it a
prohibited facility, as measured under rule
3796:5-5-01
of the Administrative Code;
(j)
For any instance
in which an applicant or any person associated with the applicant is currently
or was previously licensed or authorized in another state or jurisdiction to
cultivate, produce, test, dispense, or otherwise deal in the distribution of
marijuana in any form, the following:
(i)
A copy of each
such licensing or authorizing document verifying licensure in that state or
jurisdiction;
(ii)
A statement granting permission to contact the
regulatory agency that granted the license, accompanied by the contact
information, to confirm the information contained in the application;
and
(iii)
If the license, authorization or application was ever
warned, fined, denied, suspended, revoked or otherwise sanctioned, a copy of
documentation so indicating, or a statement that the applicant was so licensed
and was never sanctioned; and
(k)
Documentation
that the applicant is in compliance with applicable building, fire, safety, and
zoning statutes, local ordinances, and rules and regulations adopted by the
locality in which the applicant's proposed property is located, which are in
effect at the time of the application, including but not limited to building
department approval demonstrating compliance with rules adopted by the board of
building standards pursuant to Chapters 3781. and 3791. of the Revised Code and
any applicable zoning considerations.
(3)
An operations
plan that establishes policies and procedures that the applicant will implement
for the secure, safe, sustainable, and proper cultivation of medical marijuana,
which, at a minimum, shall include:
(a)
Agricultural cultivation techniques;
(b)
Experience with
the cultivation of medical marijuana or agricultural or horticultural products,
operation of an agriculturally related business, or operation of a
horticultural business;
(c)
A list of medical marijuana varieties proposed to be
grown with estimated cannabinoid profiles, if known, including varieties with
high cannabidiol content;
(d)
Facility specifications, including the cultivation
environment, layout of the marijuana cultivation area (i.e. grow tables, tiered
or stacked orientation, etc.) evidencing that the applicant will comply with
the requirements of Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code and will operate in
accordance with the rules promulgated pursuant to Chapter 3796. of the Revised
Code;
(e)
The implementation of standards and guidelines for
cultivating, propagating, vegetating, flowering, and harvesting medical
marijuana, including safety protocols and equipment; and
(f)
Facility staffing
and employment matters, including employee training and employee compliance
with Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code and in accordance with the rules
promulgated pursuant to Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code.
(4)
A
quality assurance plan that establishes policies and procedures for a safe,
consistent supply of medical marijuana, which, at a minimum, shall
include:
(a)
Intended use of pesticides, fertilizers, and other
agricultural products or production control factors in the cultivation of
medical marijuana;
(b)
Best practices for the packaging and labeling of
medical marijuana;
(c)
Implementation and compliance with the inventory
tracking system;
(d)
An inventory control plan;
(e)
Standards for the
disposal of medical marijuana waste and other wastes; and
(f)
Recall policies
and procedures in the event of contamination, expiration or other circumstances
that render the medical marijuana unsafe or unfit for consumption, including,
at a minimum, identification of the products involved, notification to the
dispensary or others to whom the product was sold or otherwise distributed, and
how the products will be disposed of if returned to or retrieved by the
applicant;
(5)
A security plan that establishes policies and
procedures to prevent theft, loss or diversion from a cultivator and protect
facility personnel, which, at a minimum, shall include:
(a)
Record keeping
policies and procedures that will ensure the facility complies with rule
3796:2-2-08
of the Administrative Code;
(b)
A security plan
in accordance with rule
3796:2-2-05
of the Administrative Code;
(c)
Transportation
policies in accordance with rule
3796:5-3-01
of the Administrative Code; and
(d)
A plot plan of
the cultivation facility drawn to a reasonable scale that designates the
different areas of operation, including the marijuana cultivation area, with
the mandatory access restrictions.
(i)
If the building is in existence at the time of the
application, the applicant shall submit plans and specifications drawn to scale
for the interior of the building.
(ii)
If the building
is not in existence at the time of application, the applicant shall submit a
plot plan and a detailed drawing to scale of the interior and the architect's
drawing of the building to be constructed.
(6)
A
financial plan, which, at a minimum, shall include:
(a)
The identity and
ownership interest of every person, association, partnership, other entity, or
corporation having a financial interest, direct or indirect, in the cultivator
with respect to which licensure is sought;
(b)
A cost breakdown
of the applicant's anticipated costs in building the facility and implementing
the policies and procedures submitted as part of the application and the source
of funding for the associated costs;
(c)
Documentation
acceptable to the department that the individual or entity filing the
application has at least five hundred thousand dollars in liquid assets for a
level I cultivator provisional license and fifty thousand dollars in liquid
assets for a level II cultivator provisional license, which are unencumbered
and can be converted within thirty days after a request to liquidate such
assets;
(i)
Documentation acceptable to the department shall include, as
evidence of compliance, a signed statement from an Ohio licensed certified
public accountant attesting to proof of the required amount of liquid assets
under the control of an owner or the entity applying, if such a statement is
available at the time of application.
(ii)
The
documentation must be dated within thirty calendar days before the date that
the application was submitted.
(d)
Information
verifying that the applicant will be able to conform to the financial
responsibility requirements under rule
3796:2-1-05
of the Administrative Code; and
(e)
A record of tax
payments in the form of tax summary pages for individuals and businesses at the
state and federal level and in all jurisdictions in which an applicant has
operated as a business and for every person with a financial interest of one
per cent or greater in the applicant for the three years before the filing of
the application, unless the department determines that documentation should be
submitted for all individuals and entities.
(7)
Any other
information requested in the application instructions that the department deems
necessary to evaluate and determine the applicant's suitability to operate as a
cultivator.