Regulators Eye Deadline to License Recreational Marijuana Businesses.

State regulators are considering rules that would slash fees for medical marijuana patients and caregivers and pave the way to license recreational marijuana dispensaries as soon as September.

A new package of rules meant to ready Ohio for recreational marijuana includes provisions scrapping the fee for medical marijuana patients and caregivers and setting a Sept. 7 deadline to grant provisional adult-use cannabis licenses to dispensaries, cultivators, processors and testing laboratories. If adopted, the rules could potentially eliminate a barrier for medical users as the state’s recreational program gets started and put a firmer timeline on standing up the state’s recreational program. But it doesn’t necessarily mean recreational sales would be imminent – and state lawmakers still could throw the plan a curveball if both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly can agree on changes to the law voters approved in November legalizing recreational marijuana in the state.