EXPECTATION — People lined up outside Sunnyside on Tuesday for the first day of recreational marijuana sales at the Wintersville marijuana dispensary. — Christopher Dacanay

WINTERSVILLE – Potential customers began lining up as early as 6 a.m. Tuesday, about three hours before Sunnyside opened, which was set to sell recreational marijuana for the first time since the Division of Cannabis Control granted it a license to operate.

Sunnyside is one of 98 existing medical marijuana dispensaries to receive a dual-use certificate from DCC, the Ohio Department of Commerce’s cannabis regulatory agency. Tuesday’s launch of sales at licensed and ready stores across the state was the most significant event for legalization efforts since voters legalized and regulated the drug on Nov. 7 with the passage of Issue 2.

After setting up separate lines for existing medical patients and new recreational customers, Sunnyside’s Wintersville branch began admitting patients into the branch around 9:00 a.m. to scattered applause from employees and eager jostling from customers.

Among the excited employees was Kierston Powell, senior regional marketing manager for the eastern district of Cresco Labs Inc., which operates Sunnyside and grows its cannabis products. All five Sunnyside dispensaries in Ohio have received COOs, and all but the Newark location began sales on Tuesday; that will begin on Wednesday.

“It’s very exciting. I feel like this is a historic moment that we’ve all been waiting for,” said Powell, wearing a Sunnyside T-shirt and marijuana leaf earrings.

Powell noted that Ohio’s medical marijuana program allows people with medical conditions and a prescription from a licensed health care provider to purchase cannabis products. Recreational sales, she said, allow people whose medical conditions would not normally be approved by the state to access cannabis and help treat their conditions.

To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the marketing of cannabis for the treatment of any disease or condition, but it has approved one cannabis-derived drug and three synthetic cannabis products for use with a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider. The agency has not approved any other cannabis, cannabis-derived, or cannabidiol products currently on the market.

Sunnyside offers a variety of product types that aren’t necessarily associated with smoking, such as edibles, topicals, tinctures and many forms of concentrates, Powell said.

“People don’t want to consume because they think the only way to consume is by inhalation, but that’s simply not the case. We have a product portfolio that addresses different forms of consumption … and that also has different test qualities.”

Customers, who must be at least 21 years old, enter the showroom through the front door and are granted access with a valid ID or health insurance card. From there, they follow a line that gives them a view of the product walls and buffets of product packages. The products themselves are stored in a safe and are available upon purchase.

Powell said she arrived at the Wintersville store around 6:30 a.m., but there were several people already in line. Four of them had already made their purchase online at sunnyside.shop. Powell noticed store employees helping people in line place their orders before going inside, and she advised other potential customers to do the same and expedite the pickup process.

The line on Tuesday got longer after the doors opened, and Powell said that was to be expected. Sunnyside has been preparing for the influx of new customers since January. Long lines are expected during the first few weeks of recreational sales.

Among those waiting in line were people from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York. The first two states have medical programs, although marijuana remains illegal for recreational use. It is also illegal at the federal level to transport cannabis across state lines.

People in line who asked to remain anonymous said recreational marijuana sales in Ohio have been long-awaited, and some said adult-use laws in Pennsylvania and West Virginia will be next, following Ohio’s precedent. Some added that they are interested in seeing how recreational marijuana sales affect drunk driving rates.

Also present at Sunnyside’s opening was Wintersville Mayor Mike Petrella. He said Sunnyside’s certification is “great news for the village” as he anticipates an expected increase in traffic and the associated impact on surrounding businesses. Thirty-six percent of the excise tax revenue will be returned to the village, he said, and that’s on top of the 7.25 percent sales tax already in place in Jefferson County.

“We know that there could be problems if someone drives under the influence of alcohol, but our police are also prepared for that,” said Petrella.

Two officers were present at Petrella’s Tuesday morning, and Wintersville police planned to have an officer stationed at the store until 10 p.m.

Petrella is the former owner of Wintersville-based medical marijuana dispensary Ohio Valley Natural Relief LLC, which was purchased over a month ago by Greenlight Dispensary. St. Louis-based Greenlight operates 34 dispensaries — divided into medical and dual-use markets — in seven states.

Casey Efting, Greenlight’s head of retail, said ONVR is Greenlight’s first foray into Ohio’s cannabis market, where the company is looking to build more retail stores based on its experience in other states.

“We understand the transition from the medical market to the adult-use or recreational market. … “We’re really excited to go through that process again. We went through that (transition) in Missouri last February. It’s really great that anyone over 21 who consumes these products has safe access.”

The store, which carries multiple product brands, wants to put the customer experience first, Efting said. It will continue to serve medical patients while trying to accommodate new recreational customers. The store itself is small, Efting said, but there are plans to implement Greenlight’s “look and feel” through interior renovations and hopefully open up the space for a better flow.

OVNR’s COO application was submitted as the purchase of the store was progressing, Efting said. The store is awaiting its state inspection, after which there will be a more specific date for starting its own recreational sales.

Celebrating the upcoming start of recreational cannabis sales on Monday was the Marijuana Policy Project, a cannabis policy reform organization that has been involved in 14 successful campaigns to legalize cannabis across the U.S. Founded in 1995, MPP has been involved in Ohio’s cannabis reform efforts since 2015 and provided financial support for the Issue 2 campaign.

MPP Executive Director Matthew Schweich said in a press release, “Today we celebrate as Ohioans’ support for legalization culminates in the launch of a regulated adult-use cannabis market. This milestone will not only bring significant economic benefits to the state, but will also increase personal freedom and end the injustice of cannabis prohibition.”