Sonoma County’s Garden Society expanding its cannabis edibles to Ohio
In line with many California cannabis companies looking east to expand, Garden Society now offers its line of medicinal marijuana edibles in Ohio, the women-owned Cloverdale company announced April 25.
The cannabis producer will launch its product line, including chocolates and gummies, in four Bloom Medicinal dispensaries. The dispensaries are scattered throughout the Buckeye state, including Akron, the city of Seven Mile, located north of Cincinnati, Painesville which is near Cleveland, and Columbus.
Chocolates to be sold come in three flavors, with gummies tasting like peach nectar, tart cherry and strawberry rose.
“We’re trying to be strategic. This market has a lot of potential. There are not a lot of established brands there yet,” co-founder and spokeswoman Karli Warner told the Business Journal.
Ohio remains a mostly untapped market for at least medicinal sales, unlike New York, a state that’s legal for adult, recreational use and which has seen much interest from California transplant businesses.
“New York is super saturated. Everyone’s gunning for New York,” Warner explained. “Ohio is just getting used to the cannabis world.”
The Sonoma County company is entering the ground floor of the Midwest market, which means a mindfulness of its unique culture. Warner mentioned how, unlike California, Ohio has “more stringent” standards about how the products may be marketed and used.
The market also tends to respond to more on-the-ground, in-person connections.
Warner said it helps that Garden Society is using a 10,000-square-foot production plant in Grafton, near its Painseville facility, making it convenient for the markets it will now serve.
“We’re proud to welcome such a well-recognized women-focused medical marijuana brand to our shelves,” said Anthony Surace, a regional purchasing agent for Bloom Medicinals.
“As one of the latest brands fortunate to be granted a license in Ohio, we are grateful to have such reputable dispensary partners at launch,” co-founder and CEO Erin Gore said, trading compliments to Bloom Medicinals.
According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, Ohio has recorded $478.8 million in medical marijuana sales in 2022, which represents a 26% increase from the previous year.
California cannabis companies moving satellite offices and production facilities into other states is a trend that is expected to grow in the United States, National Cannabis Industry Association CEO Aaron Smith said.
“We’ve been seeing this and will continue to see more of it as the only way they can expand,” Smith told Business Journal. “And Ohio is one state a lot of folks are eyeing as the next legal state.”
And the law firms that represent the industry have also recognized the potential.
Omar Figueroa Law based in Sebastopol opened a New York office since the state legalized cannabis. Since setting up shop in February 2022, the Brooklyn office has met the law firm’s expectations in representation for the industry as well as government policy shaping, according to attorney Lauren Mendelsohn.
“Unlike in California, New York towns and municipalities have limited ability to ban state-licensed cannabis-related businesses,” Mendelsohn’s colleague, Andrew Kingsdale, said. “By 2026, the state likely will be a top five cannabis market by dollar sales in the U.S.”
The Omar Figueroa team predicts Missouri and Connecticut appear to be positioned as hot markets going forward.
Twenty-three states have legalized adult, recreational cannabis, while 38 are open for medicinal use and sales.
Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, tech, energy, transportation, agriculture as well as banking and finance. She can be reached at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com
