Dispensaries make first legal recreational sales in Ohio, customers met with high prices

SPRINGFIELD — Shopping for marijuana is very different than walking into a regular store.

Customers are asked for IDs at the door, to make sure they are over 21 years old.

Once they are past that point no videos or pictures are allowed.

Customers at Terrasana Dispensary in Springfield explained the process.

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“It’s really not what I expected. I thought there’d be big jars in there and it’s not,” Chuck Enko said.

Enko said once your ID is checked you are matched with a dispensary worker.

“It’s like a doctor’s office,” he said.

They are asked about what they want from their cannabis experience.

“What type of feeling they are looking for, or what they are trying to treat? Whether they want to feel more motivated, where they want to be more relaxed at night,” Megan Suttles, general manager of Terrasana said.

“Sativa has more excitement. Inica is more for bedtime,” Suttles explained

Suttles said there are more specific indicators that dispensary staff talk through with each customer.

She added effects are not guaranteed because each product can react differently with each customer.

She said customers should keep track of their experience.

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“We also suggest people take notes, write down their effects after taking certain products so that they know if that’s something they are going to repurchase or something they are going to cross off their list,” Suttles said.

Customers said another thing they didn’t expect — the high prices.

“Prices are a little high,” Eno said.

Brandon Nawman agreed.

He was the third in line for his first recreational weed purchase.

“I just wanted to be one of the first couple in here and see how it was,” Newman said.

He said he’s purchased marijuana in Michigan before and pointed to the huge difference in cost.

“Ounces here would be about 400 bucks, when you go to Michigan 50 dollars in gas and get an ounce for 60 bucks,” Newman said.

One reason for high prices is the 10 percent tax on marijuana sales, on top of the normal sales tax.

Prices are expected to go down as supply rises.

You can find Ohio Cannabis dispensaries on this map created by the Ohio Department of Commerce.

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