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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local cannabis dispensaries and cultivators say that business across the industry has boomed since adult-use recreational sales in Ohio started in August 2024 but not quite to the levels initially envisioned.
“We’ve definitely seen a growth from the number of customers on a daily basis,” said Terrell Washington, owner of Leaf Relief, a cannabis dispensary on Market Street in Youngstown. “We’re looking at record numbers from every single metric we can think of over the past year.”
According to the most recent data from the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control, total nonmedical marijuana sales hit $539.9 million through the first full nine months of the program, or approximately 25% of the total $2.7 billion in sales tallied since January 2019, when medical sales first took effect.
Still, sales of recreational cannabis are significantly lower than what was earlier anticipated, say industry executives. Provisions that were included in the initial ballot initiative approved by voters in November 2023 have yet to be rolled out, while the state legislature debates several cannabis reform bills that industry supporters say could curtail or limit the program.
“There’s clearly still opportunities,” Washington said. “We still don’t have everything that we voted on and approved.”
For example, Washington noted that the original language in the measure approved by voters included a social equity component that calls for the Ohio Department of Development to establish a business assistance and jobs program tied to the cannabis industry.
“That hasn’t happened,” he said. “There’s also different product lines that Ohioans were fully in support of that still have not been delivered to them.”
Washington pointed to delays in approving pre-rolled cannabis products, which he said is in great demand among retail customers. “It is a huge segment across the adult-use market,” he said. “Everyone knows it’s coming – it’s impossible to have an adult-use market without pre-rolls – but we still aren’t approved to produce them yet.”
Sales are nevertheless strong at Leaf Relief – strong enough to spur the opening of a second location in Austintown on Silica Road, Washington said. “We hope to have that open by the end of the year,” he said.
To date, Ohio has awarded a total of 147 dual use certificates of operation to dispensaries. The state has thus far approved seven across Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. At present, the state lists two in Warren, and single certificates for dispensaries in Hubbard, Youngstown, Niles, Struthers and East Liverpool.
Recreational Sales Climb
State data show that sales of plant material used in recreational marijuana products has gradually increased since the first week of legal distribution. For the week ended Aug. 10, 2024, for example, sales stood at $6.07 million. That number had increased to a record $8.46 million in plant sales during the week ended April 19, 2025.
Recreational sales also easily outpace medical use business, according to the most recent state records.
Sales of recreational plant material during the week ended April 25, 2025, constituted $7.28 million versus just $2.32 million in medical sales, or approximately 70% of total cannabis plant sales for the week.
Market demand has allowed cultivator Riviera Creek LLC to further expand its operation in Youngstown, said its chairman, Brian Kessler.
“We’re targeted to launch grow room No. 10 by the summer,” Kessler said. As more dispensaries open, he anticipates demand will increase and guide further expansion. “Our goal is to open [grow room] 10 this summer, and then evaluate when 11, 12 and 13 will come on stream – most likely toward the end of 2026 depending on how demand sorts out.”
The company – which also holds a processing license that allows it to convert plant material into saleable products – recently finished a kitchen that this week will begin producing cannabis gummies for the market, Kessler said. Riviera Creek has also diversified and started an apparel line.
Riviera Creek is the sole cannabis cultivator in Youngstown and employs approximately 100, Kessler said. As it stands, the industry is highly regulated, as cannabis products are subject to required testing and approval by the state before distribution to the public.
Cannabis grown at Riviera Creek LLC in Youngstown.
“I’ve wanted regulated tests and safe products that consumers can interact with, and feel comfortable that they’re not going to get harmed,” he said.
What concerns Kessler is the continued sales of unregulated over-the-counter intoxicating hemp products sold at convenience stores and other locations that he said poses a danger to the public. “They chemically modify it, there’s no testing, there’s no regulatory parameters around it,” he says. “The good news is that the state has been trying to get that stuff off the market, and we’re 100% supportive of getting it regulated.”
Meanwhile, Riviera Creek continues to grow despite headwinds and challenges in Columbus. A recent bill, for example, that decreases the amount of tax revenue shared with local communities with cannabis dispensaries has caused some pushback from the industry and local officials.
There have also been efforts to reduce the amount of THC – the active ingredient in cannabis – in products sold throughout the state. “That’s problematic,” Kessler said. “Because when you lower it you’re going to add filler, and that filler is not going to be particularly healthy for you.”
Kessler acknowledges that there will always be challenges across the industry. “We’ve still been running under the medical law world, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. “There’s still no advertising, no pre-rolled products. They’re being unbelievably regulatory and making sure everybody is very, very careful.”
The slowing pace and persistent regulatory environment has led to some retailers experiencing tough times in the business, Kessler added. “It’s slowed growth, for sure,” he said. “There’s definitely a couple of retail stores that have really had some rough times.”
As demand increases, however, Kessler anticipates that most of the provisions promised in the original ballot initiatives will eventually be realized.
“I think we’ll see that growth, it’s just going to take longer,” he said. “What people hoped would happen in a year or two probably is going to take three years, maybe four years.”
Pictured at top: Leaf Relief owner Terrell Washington
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