As soon as the Ohio legislature passed House Bill 523 in 2016, legalizing medical marijuana throughout the state, Wilson knew he wanted to get involved.
“I’m a disabled veteran myself, and I know a lot of veterans who have actually been able to stop taking 13 to 15 prescribed pills and instead smoke medical cannabis,” Wilson said Friday. “Medical use of cannabis can allow a veteran to sleep their eight hours versus having post-traumatic stress and night terrors.”
A Germantown native, Wilson applied to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program, which allocates permits for cultivation, in summer of 2017. His petition was approved later that year, granting him a license to operate an initial marijuana cultivation area of 3,000 square feet.
Wilson initially intended to open his facility in Huber Heights, but this hope was dashed when the city put a moratorium on medical marijuana processors, cultivators, and dispensaries.
“When we ran into the moratorium issues, our license was basically put on hold,” he said, noting that it would take a substantial amount of time to update his already-approved license to reflect the change in venue to Tipp City.
In the meantime, Wilson said he traveled to Oklahoma, another medical marijuana friendly state, with the intent to learn the ins and outs of the business.
“We decided to go to a state where we can learn how to do this from the ground up,” he said. “We went down there, got a building, and I got to physically put hands on the entire project from the ground up.”
Wilson’s Oklahoma cultivation venture is still active, run remotely from Ohio.
Wilson said he hopes his Tipp City cultivation business can help bring affordable products to medical patients in Ohio.
“I think the pricing in this market is really hard for patients to afford, and we want to bring quality medicine to those who need it,” he said.
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