By Sheryl Roadcap

[email protected]

PIQUA — Ohio Cannabis Company (OCC), located at 8866 N. County Road 25A in Piqua, opened to the public on Saturday, June 10.

OCC is the only medical marijuana dispensary in Miami County, and the first to open in Piqua. A second dispensary is expected to open some time within the next year on Recker Road in Piqua.

On Friday, June 9, OCC had a “soft opening” for employees and friends and family of employees who have an Ohio medical marijuana card.

“We’re very excited to be in Piqua,” said Cindy Bradford co-owner of OCC, while welcoming customers and visitors on Friday.

“On the first round of the RFA, request for applications, it was 100% merit-based,” said Brian Wingfield, OCC co-owner. “And so, Cindy and I chatted and said, ‘Hey, you (Cindy) have the pharmacy background’ (in pharmacy work with home health) and she reached out to me and said ‘Hey, you have technical background; you used to run a franchise of video games stores, Game On.’ And I sold those. And she’s like, ‘Do you want to do this?’ And I said yes. And we came together, we did this and …. we got one licence and ran that (in another area of Ohio).”

But for the second round of RFA bids (or RFA2), according to Wingfield, potential dispensary owners had to “meet a minimum bar and it then it was a lottery” for who to choose to grant a license out of the hundreds of applicants. Applicants, he said, had to pay a fee of $5,000 for a chance to obtain a licence, and secure the ground in a jurisdiction that allows dispensaries, but not not within a certain amount of feet near parks, schools, churches, rehabilitation facilities, etc. Hundreds of applicants were seeking the right spot within a certain time frame to be one of the 70 licences issued in the second round.

“It was a mad dash,” Wingfield said of trying to find a good location for their dispensary. “Everybody was trying to get locations. And we ended up finding 19 suitable locations that we were able to put in for. And of those 19, we ended up being selected for three. I had friends who spent tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars into this and got zero.”

“So, we got ridiculously lucky on this. I am super grateful. I mean it is an hour and 20-minute drive for me, but what I found out is, the drive isn’t that bad when you are helping out other people,” he said before detailing an example of how the product they sell has helped their customers deal with pain or diseases.

The new OCC building is approximately 4,000-square-feet of retail space, with a front check-in window, lobby, consultation room, dispensary room and a drive-thru window. The consultation room allows for those who do not hold an Ohio medical marijuana card, but want to accompany a family member or friend to investigate the process or obtain information. Only those who hold an Ohio medical marijuana card are permitted to enter the dispensary room.

Winfield said one of his previous customers who suffered with cancer could have especially benefited from the drive-thru they have installed at the Piqua location. Customers may place their order online, and then come through the drive-thru to pick-up their order.

The dispensary only accepts payments of cash or by debit card. OCC offers a wide range of cannabis and medical marijuana products, including processed items like flower, concentrates, oils, cartridges, gummies and other edibles.

“We have it all,” Wingfield said. “And Miami County has been very receptive (to the new dispensary opening in Piqua).”

OCC is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The dispensary is closed on Sundays. For more information call 937-641-0620 or visit https://occdispensary.com/