A farmers’ market on Saturday, March 23, focused on a rare skill that is becoming increasingly common thanks to changing laws in the state of Ohio: growing marijuana at home. The OhioCannabis.com Festival & Farmers Market was set up at the Pickaway Agriculture and Event Center in Circleville and was only open to attendees aged 21 and up to comply with Ohio state laws.
Getting Ohio Into the Marijuana Scene
While there are not yet any dispensaries in Ohio selling marijuana for recreational use, it has been legal for adults to grow up to six of their own plants since December. “Whether you need clones, seeds, or a starter package to get growing, we have you covered!” advertised OhioCannabis.com. “Meet other cannabis enthusiasts in our community and learn how to start your own legal home grow in Ohio!”
“I’ve been saying growing cannabis is easy, but growing GOOD cannabis is hard,” said John Lutz, who claims to have been in the marijuana industry for 15 years. Going by the name JohnnyCannabis online, John is the event’s creator. “We want people to see success and have results early on so they’re not frustrated and leave the hobby.”
Community, Culture, and Cultivation
This wasn’t the first of these farmers’ markets that OhioCannabis.com has hosted. According to John, the first farmers market they held in Cleveland attracted more than a thousand people and around 40 vendors. John expected 75 vendors at the Circleville market.
“It’s nice to have an open and free market,” said John, “Where you can just have a community and a culture that understands cannabis, appreciates cannabis, and is very excited to trade genetics amongst each other.”
The farmers market featured live music, entertainment, a raffle, and vendors selling grow equipment and seeds alongside homemade sweets. The main draw was the demo classes on topics such as ware and air filtration, nutrients, lighting and equipment, germination, harvesting, and curing.
A Green Future For Ohio
Any future that includes dedicated recreational dispensaries in Ohio is still uncertain, but recent regulations seem to be clearing the way to allow medical dispensaries to obtain dual-use licenses to sell recreational marijuana. Ohio’s marijuana laws have been the subject of a great deal of conflict inside the state’s legislative bodies, significantly delaying access to legal marijuana sales even after the passage of bills that should have paved the way. This dual-use policy is a much-needed compromise, partially driven by concern that a marijuana black market could spring up to fill the recreational sale vacuum if a legal route is not provided soon.
In the meantime, legal home grow seems to be the local community’s answer to access. John Lutz is planning yet another farmers’ market full of vendors, resources, and demonstrations. This one will take place in Canton, OH, where John hopes to see the same energetic engagement from a community eager to access a new product that they have finally won the legal right to. In the absence of store-bought cannabis, a motivated subculture of marijuana enthusiasts will simply grow their own.
