OHIO — The state's medical marijuana dispensary lottery amassed more than 1,400 applications in a new process officials say will more than double the number of dispenaries in the state. 

What You Need To Know

  • Officials are issuing 73 new medical marijuana dispensary licenses across the state of Ohio

  • In an effort to keep things fair, the state drew names for the provisional dispensary licenses

  • There were 1,473 applications for 73 licenses

This lottery, where officials drew names of hopeful businesses, took place during the last week of January.

Tom Wilke is the economic development director for the city of Kent. He has been keeping a close eye on the lottery because it is possible that the city could be adding a new medical marijuana dispensary. 

Right now, the state of Ohio has 57 dispensaries, and 73 new licenses are being issued across the state. 

"There were 1,473 applications for 73 licenses," Wilke explained. "So, one out of 20, essentially.” 

The lottery was used in an effort to keep things fair, so the state drew names for the provisional dispensary licenses. 

"They conducted the lottery actually using the Ohio lottery system, the ping-pong ball system," he said. "Each application was assigned a number.” 

In the state of Ohio, there are 31 regions for medical marijuana dispensaries.

"To give an example, Portage County is part of Northeast Region 5," he explained. "It is lumped in with Lake County and Geauga County.” 

Licenses are allocated to regions based on population and projected number of users. 

“They said they are going to issue three new licenses in [Northeast Region 5]," Wilke said. "We are going from two licenses in our region to five.” 

In Northeast Region 5, there were 68 applicants for three licenses and each applicant is ranked, based on the lottery drawing from one to 68.

Just because a business had their number drawn high up in the lottery does not mean they are in the clear to open a dispensary. 

“Any one of the applicants could fall off, based on the site being disqualified for some reason, or the applicant being disqualified for some reason," Wilke said.

After that, the next business in line gets a shot at getting their license. 

Officials have not given a time frame for when the licenses will be issued.  

“They are going to do it as quickly as the can," Wilke said. "The actual applicants will be notified but the general public won’t be until they have fully issued all of the licenses across the state.” 

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