×

Marijuana patients won’t be lighting up

EAST PALESTINE — Four years ago Gregg Holtzman and his brother flipped a coin to see if they should move to Colorado to get involved in the medical marijuana business.

It was shortly after Colorado legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, and Holtzman also felt that his family could benefit.

“My motivation for getting into this business has to do with my wife, my daughter and nephew,” he said.

Holtzman is one of five owners of Pure O&M (Operations and Management) LLC, which manages medical marijuana processing and distribution facilities, and recently received council approval to construct a new facility on Kemple Road in East Palestine, pending state approval.

The company’s subsidiary, Pure Ohio LLC, is applying for one of the 12 Tier II licenses to be given out by the state.

Holtzman explained that his wife was on Prozac and other mood elevators for years, and his daughter struggled with restless leg syndrome, so much so that she was asked to leave several public school systems.

His 16-year-old nephew recently passed away from Lymphoblastic lymphoma.

All three of them could be treated with micro-dosing of medical marijuana, he said.

In fact, his wife began taking a form of the medical marijuana and greatly improved, he added.

He pointed out that Ohio is allowing medical marijuana to be used to treat around 17 illnesses, which include cancers, epilepsy, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Fibromyalgia.

He said the medicine should not be confused with marijuana cigarettes that are smoked and believes that more people would be accepting if the stigma is removed.

“There is no smoking of marijuana, no rolling of joints. It must be made into a product … it’s not like you’re going to see someone walking down the street with a joint,” he said.

He explained that the process involves extracting about 12 different compounds from the marijuana plant, which will be put into tablet, capsule, salve and other forms.

The medicine is mainly comprised of CBD, or hemp oil, and not THC, which is generally responsible for the psychoactive side-effects of marijuana, he added.

The facility will have to adhere to the regulations and guidelines outlined in Ohio House Bill 523 that allowed for the legalization of marijuana, and the Ohio Revised Code (ORC).

A list of allowed illnesses that can be treated with medical marijuana in Ohio can be found online at http://codes.ohio.orc/3796.01v1 .

Holtzman said that if recreational marijuana became legal in the state down the road the East Palestine facility would be allowed to sell to recreational stores as well, but that side of the business would be run separately from the medical side, and would require a separate license and separate growing process.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today