Council considers restrictions on medical cannabis businesses

UC Blue Ash economics professor tells LINK nky that proposal would burden businesses

The Fort Wright City Council in Kentucky has floated the idea of restrictions on potential medical cannabis businesses, LINK nky reported.

Keshar Ghimire, PhD, associate professor of economics at UC Blue Ash

Council members in the suburb of Cincinnati are concerned about the effects that cannabis odor will have on neighboring businesses. They've considered requiring any potential medical cannabis business to be in stand-alone buildings, rather than a strip mall.

“Similar proposals have definitely been floated in several counties across the country but often they don’t survive,” said Keshar Ghimire, PhD, an associate professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. “Such restrictions may go against the spirit of the state law that seeks to allow easy access to medical [ . . . ] marijuana.”

If restrictions would be implemented, it would negatively affect potential businesses, Ghimire said.

“Requiring stand-alone buildings will definitely put an extra burden on businesses,” he said, “This reduces the choices for location, thereby potentially increasing costs of operations and decreasing revenues.”

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Featured image at top: Marijuana in a cannabis dispensary. Photo/Budding via Unsplash

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While recreational marijuana is now legal in Ohio, consumers have noticed that prices are higher at Ohio dispensaries compared to other states such as Michigan, WCPO reported. Keshar Ghimire, PhD, an associate professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College, said it’s not surprising that prices in Ohio are higher than elsewhere.

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