MANSFIELD — An adult-use marijuana dispensary could net the City of Mansfield as much as $250,000 in annual tax revenue, based on estimated sales offered Tuesday by a representative of a company that would like to have a store here.
However, that’s if Mansfield City Council doesn’t impose a six-month moratorium on such local dispensaries in the form of legislation scheduled for a vote June 4.
As of Tuesday night, local lawmakers have offered no clear indication how that vote may go.
Keri Stan, the Ohio and Illinois district manager for The Cannabist Co. (formerly Columbia Care, told Richland Source the company estimates annual sales in a community the size of Mansfield would be between $5 and $7 million.
Based on those sales estimates, with the city receiving 36 percent of the 10 percent excise tax imposed by the state on cannabis dispensaries, the city would receive between $180,000 and $250,000 annually.
“That would be an approximation, of course, for a city of this size,” Stan said after speaking to Mansfield City Council members. “(It’s) what we have seen historically in similar markets with similar populations out of (a dispensary) location.”
In actuality, that local revenue number would be higher when factoring in the income tax paid by dispensary employees and also Richland County’s portion of sales tax.
According to the company website, the company has more than a decade of experience in the cannabis business. It has operated in 15 markets in at least seven states with 85 dispensaries and 30 cultivation/manufacturing facilities.
In 2021, the company introduced The Cannabist as its retail platform.
Ohio, with the passage of State Issue 2 in 2023, legalized recreational cannabis in addition to medical marijuana sales.
The company website says The Cannabist Co. offers “a welcoming, uncomplicated and normalized shopping experience, with a passion and purpose for delivering a higher experience to anyone who walks in our doors regardless of where they are on their cannabis journey.”
The Cannabist Co. has four medical marijuana dispensaries in Ohio with locations in Dayton, Logan (Hocking County), Marietta (Washington County) and Monroe (east central Butler and west central Warren counties).
“We’re aware you guys have the moratorium coming up for a vote. One of the reasons that I am here, obviously, is we would like to pursue a property for recreational marijuana sales in the city of Mansfield,” Stan told City Council.
“When you look at our (company) footprint, we’re not in Cincinnati. We’re not in Columbus. We’re not in Cleveland. Rolling into a medical (marijuana) program when the state rolled that out five years ago, we looked at communities we thought were going to be underserved.”
If the city doesn’t enact the moratorium, she said, the company would apply for an adult-use license from the state and work with city officials on a location that meets the new state standards.
Other cannabis companies may also apply to open a store in Mansfield and the city would use its zoning codes to help establish locations.
One of the requirements in the state law prohibits one adult-use cannabis dispensary from operating within one mile of another.
Stan said the closest medical cannabis dispensary to Mansfield is more than an hour away.
Mansfield voters mirrored the rest of the state in November 2023 as 57 percent of the 11,244 votes cast in Mansfield supported State Issue 2. The issue was approved in all but one ward in the city. Voters in the 1st Ward opposed it — 1,762 to 1,540, according to the Richland County Board of Elections.
According to a story published May 14 at Cleveland.com, 47 Ohio cities and townships — and counting — have at least temporarily banned recreational marijuana businesses.
“The 47 jurisdictions represent a little less than 9 percent of Ohio’s population, with the average population of moratorium localities hovering just above 20,000 residents,” according to new research from Ohio State University’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.
That study looked at ordinances in Ohio cities up to March 31.
Lawmakers used the opportunity to learn more about the recreational sale of marijuana by asking questions about how the company operates.
In responding to questions, Stan described the company’s dispensaries as secure locations that meet and exceed state regulations where they operate.
First Ward Councilwoman Laura Burns asked how the company manages oversight and insures cannabis coming into its dispensaries are safe.
Stan said all of its medical marijuana products are tested by a third party and the state requires a “pretty comprehensive seed-to-sale tracking system.”
“Everything that we bring into the facility has to come through that system. It’s manifested, it’s tracked through that system so that when it walks through our door and is delivered we can trace it back to the plant that it was grown from all the way back to seed,” Stan said.
Fifth Ward Councilman Aurelio Diaz thanked Stan for coming to the meeting and for providing photos of what its medical dispensaries look like in Ohio, as well as what recreational dispensaries look like in other states.
“These look very well. It’s not what I expected,” Diaz said.
Second Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Meier, chair of the safety committee that hosted Stan, asked about building security at a dispensary.
Stan described it “as intense.”
“The state mandates the security bare minimums that we have to have those, the mandated ones in the state are very robust,” she said.
“I can tell you in our facilities we usually go with more enhanced security systems than what’s legally required,” Stan said.
“The nice thing about that is we have found, especially in the neighborhoods where we operate, it’s been very helpful to our neighbors,” she said, claiming security cameras outside the buildings have helped law enforcement agencies solve crimes committed nearby.
She said the dispensaries also have security guards working onsite during business operating hours.
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Deborah Mount asked what steps the company takes to keep cannabis out of the hands of juveniles.
Stan said medical dispensaries require a state ID card with a photo and also a prescription card at three different points during the purchase process.
In a recreational dispensary, she said, no one under the age of 21 would be allowed to enter the building, again relying on state-issued photo ID cards.
“The new facilities, like the one we would love to put here, will be for adult use. So there would be no reason ever for a minor to ever walk into the facility,” Stan said.
Diaz asked how medical cannabis dispensaries have impacted the morale of the community in which they are located.
In 2017, City Council voted 6-1 to not allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the city after such use of cannabis was approved in Ohio in 2016. That ban remains in place.
“I have had wonderful experiences in the communities in which we operate,” Stan said. “We do a lot of community engagement. We do a lot of community service.
“In Marietta (where Stan is from), I personally spearheaded a yearly campaign to help the local Humane Society.
“We realized that when we go into communities, there is a stigma. We know that. So how do we help the communities?
“That’s the real heart of the mission, I think, for the marijuana industry in general … the health and well being and helping people have a better quality of life.
“So how do we translate that into the communities in which we’re fortunate enough to operate in?” Stan said rhetorically.
Meier asked what the company would consider as prime locations for a new dispensary in Mansfield.
Stan said The Cannabist Co. would rely on the city to help make that decision.
“Ideally, we would love to be in a higher-traffic area that’s accessible for people who are traveling. Especially in the state of Ohio, that doesn’t have a lot of public transportation, so it’s very heavily car-based. We like to be near highways.
“We do like downtown areas. My Dayton store is in Oregon District. That’s been a really cool community to be a part of. We are able to participate in street fairs. We like to be in places that we can participate in community events,” Stan said.
Law Director Rollie Harper asked if Stan had seen higher incidents of juvenile use of marijuana in cities where the company operates.
She said she is not aware of “spikes” in juvenile usage.
“I’ve not seen any reports of that. I’ve not seen any studies done. What I will say is, in the industry journals and stuff like that, a lot of the reporting actually reports the opposite,” Stan said.
In the City Council meeting that followed, just one member of the public spoke. Brody Rayburn of Arlington Avenue urged lawmakers to allow the adult-use dispensaries in the city.
“A lot of times, we view pot smokers as a 30-year-old kid living in their parents’ basement. I think that we need to change that way of thinking. There are hard-working people in this community that have to drive 45 minutes away (to a medical cannabis dispensary).
“We’re not passing laws on morality, because if we were doing that, we wouldn’t have a bar on every corner. We wouldn’t have sex shops within Mansfield, but we do. We serve alcohol on Sundays and there’s bars everywhere.
“(State Issue 2) was passed by Ohioans (to) regulate marijuana like alcohol. And that’s all this is,” Rayburn said.
