(A) The board may award provisional
dispensary licenses via competitive scoring, a drawing, or a combination of
competitive scoring and drawing, as determined by the board, and described in a
request for applications issued by the board pursuant to rule 3796:6-2-01 of
the Administrative Code.
(B) Provisional dispensary licenses shall
only be awarded after final approval by the board, which shall include an
evaluation of the application and the applicant for the following:
(1) Compliance with
Chapter 3796. of the Revised Code and the rules adopted
thereunder;
(2) Compliance with the
relevant request for applications issued by the board; and
(3) All license
limitations, set forth in paragraph (C)(1) of this rule or otherwise specified
by the board.
(C) If the board utilizes a drawing
component in awarding provisional dispensary licenses:
(1) Provisional
dispensary applicants may submit an unlimited number of applications
except:
(a) Applications are site-specific and provisional
dispensary applicants with any common ownership may not submit more than one
application for the same parcel or any adjoining parcels;
(b) No owner, as defined in rule 3796:6-2-03 of the
Administrative Code, may be issued more than five dispensary certificates of
operation and/or provisional dispensary licenses at any time;
(c) No owner, as defined in rule 3796:6-2-03 of the
Administrative Code, may be issued more than sixty-six per cent of the total
number of dispensary certificates of operation and/or provisional dispensary
licenses in a multi-license district; and
(d) Provisional dispensary applicants shall only be awarded
the total number of provisional dispensary licenses for which they have
adequate liquid assets, as demonstrated in the applications submitted to the
board, pursuant to rule 3796:6-2-02 of the Administrative Code.
(2) If the number of
provisional dispensary license applications submitted in a district is equal to
or less than the number of available provisional dispensary licenses for that
district, as described in the relevant request for applications, no drawing
will be held and all provisional dispensary applications submitted for that
district will be awarded a provisional dispensary license, subject to paragraph
(B) of this rule.
(3) If the number of
provisional dispensary license applications submitted in a district is greater
than the number of available provisional dispensary licenses for that district,
a drawing will be held in order to produce a randomly-ranked order list of all
provisional dispensary license applications submitted for that
district.
(a) The list shall include all provisional dispensary
applications submitted for that district, subject to any automatic
disqualifications as outlined in the relevant request for applications.
Disqualified applications will not be included in the drawing.
(b) The order in which the district drawings will occur
shall be listed in the relevant request for applications.
(c) The ranked order lists shall be used to award
provisional dispensary licenses for each district, subject to paragraph (B) of
this rule, until all available provisional dispensary licenses for that
district are awarded.
(d) If, during the evaluation described in paragraph (B) of
this rule, a provisional dispensary license application or applicant is found
not to be eligible for licensure, the board will proceed to review the next
provisional dispensary license application in the ranked order list. The
evaluation process will continue until as many provisional dispensary license
applications have been found eligible for licensure as provisional dispensary
licenses are available for that district, subject to the board-approval
described in paragraph (B) of this rule.
(D) If the board determines an owner will
be limited in the number of provisional dispensary licenses pursuant to
paragraph (C)(1) of this rule, the provisional dispensary licenses will be
issued in the order in which they were drawn, or would have been drawn if a
drawing had been held, consistent with paragraphs (C)(2) and (C)(3) of this
rule.
(E) If more than one application
identifies the same parcel for a proposed dispensary location, the highest
ranked provisional dispensary application found to be eligible for licensure
shall be awarded a provisional dispensary license.
(F) The burden of proving an applicant's
qualifications rests with the applicant.
(G) The board may request additional information the board
determines is necessary to process and fully investigate an
application.
(1) The applicant shall
provide requested additional information by the close of business of the tenth
calendar day after the request has been received by the applicant;
(2) If the applicant
does not provide the requested information within ten calendar days, the board
shall consider the application to be an abandoned application and will cease
evaluation of the application.
(H) Pursuant to division (B) of section 3796.10 of the
Revised Code, the state board of pharmacy shall not consider any provisional
dispensary applicant that:
(1) Submits an
application containing one or more associated key employees who has a
conviction for, judicial finding of guilt of, or plea of guilty to a
disqualifying offense. A dispensary may disassociate with a prospective
associated key employee for failure to comply with Chapter 3796. of the Revised
Code and this division only upon approval from the state board of
pharmacy;
(2) Has an ownership
interest or investment interest in a testing laboratory, an applicant for a
license as a testing laboratory; or shares any corporate officers or employees
with a testing laboratory or applicant for a testing laboratory;
(3) Is a physician with a
certificate to recommend medical marijuana or such a physician has an ownership
or investment interest in or a compensation arrangement with the
applicant;
(4) Will be located
within five hundred feet of a prohibited facility; or
(5) Is not in compliance
with the applicable tax laws of this state or its political
subdivisions.
(I) The state board of pharmacy may deny a provisional
dispensary license to any applicant who:
(1) Submits an
incomplete, inaccurate, false, or misleading application;
(2) Knowingly employs a
person who has been disciplined by the state board of pharmacy or any
professional licensing board;
(3) Will be located
within five hundred feet of an opioid treatment program as defined in rule
4729:5-21-01 of the Administrative Code; or
(4) Fails to pay
applicable fees.
(J) The state board of pharmacy shall review for a
provisional dispensary license, the submitted applications consistent with this
division of the Administrative Code, for each designated dispensary district
established by the board. If there are an insufficient number of qualified
applicants to award all the dispensary licenses available through the open
application, the board may republish, in accordance with rule 3796:6-2-01 of
the Administrative Code, a request for applications for provisional dispensary
licenses in the applicable district.
(K) Within ten calendar days of the board's decision,
the board shall notify applicants who will be awarded a provisional dispensary
license.
(L) Unless the provisional dispensary license holder has
requested and received a variance in accordance with rule 3796:6-4-10 of the
Administrative Code, the provisional dispensary licensee shall commence
operations within two hundred and seventy days after the provisional dispensary
licensee was issued a provisional dispensary license. Failure to commence
operations within the requisite timeframe may result in the commencement of
administrative action pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, up to and
including revocation of the provisional dispensary license.
(M) Every applicant awarded a provisional dispensary
license shall provide a written report to the board of pharmacy no later than
the first day of every month following the month the applicant was awarded a
provisional dispensary license. The reports shall detail the progress of the
applicant to become operational and shall be submitted until the medical
marijuana dispensary receives a certificate of operation or the applicant
receives a notice pursuant to section 119.07 of the Revised Code.
(N) An applicant awarded a medical marijuana dispensary
license shall be deemed to have commenced operations if the medical marijuana
dispensary is capable of operating in accordance with the information contained
in the application and the licensee passes a final inspection by the state
board of pharmacy in accordance with rule 3796:6-2-06 of the Administrative
Code.
(O) A provisional dispensary license issued under this rule
is exclusive to the entity and location identified in the application and is
non-transferrable.