Counseled Cultivator with Application

Our client, a marijuana cultivator applicant, submitted an application to the Ohio Department of Commerce seeking a provisional license to cultivate medicinal cannabis. The application process is extensive and applicants are graded against one another, with the top 12 companies selected for licensure. Despite scoring higher than six of the 12 companies granted licensure, the department notified our client it was proposing denying its application due to alleged deficiencies in its proposed security plan – one of five operational plans each applicant must satisfy. Through the administrative hearing process, we were able to demonstrate that a higher, corrected score for the security plan section was warranted, leading the department to reverse the proposed denial and instead grant our client’s application. This case represented the first successful administrative appeal by an applicant seeking a provisional cultivator’s license as a result of challenging its original score issued by the department.