Ohio picks 12 large growers for medical marijuana program

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The tiny village of Mount Orab and the city of Akron are among diverse locations of 12 large growers Ohio has picked for its medical marijuana program.

The Ohio Department of Commerce announced the large cultivators and a final small grower Thursday. That rounds out the list of 24 companies authorized to produce medicinal marijuana under a new system expected to go live by September.

Large growers paid $20,000 to apply to operate sites up to 25,000 square feet. They’ll pay $180,000 in initial licensing fees and $200,000 a year thereafter.

The 12 chosen growers applied for sites in Brown and Summit counties, the respective homes of Mount Orab’s 3,500 residents and Akron’s roughly 200,000 — as well as Cuyahoga, Lake, Muskingum, Erie, Mahoning, Clark, Stark, Sandusky, Greene and Lawrence.