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Medical marijuana lab breaks ground in Yellow Springs

YELLOW SPRINGS — Heavy equipment already started moving dirt for one of Ohio’s first medical marijuana facilities.

Cresco Labs Ohio LLC and several village leaders and residents gathered Thursday morning in a cornfield next to Antioch University.

“Yellow Springs was founded on wellness,” Village Council President Karen Wintrow said. “People came to the yellow spring in Glen Helen for the healing waters so the idea of a wellness company, a health company, being here is a perfect fit. This facility is going to be sitting adjacent to farm fields in an area that we have really identified that we want to remain agriculture.”

>> Most at Beavercreek meeting oppose medical marijuana in community

The 50,000-square-foot environmentally sound greenhouse will be built along East Enon Road. It is expected to initially provide about 25 jobs, and possibly more because Cresco will seek a medical marijuana processing license.

Cresco has agreed to pay for the infrastructure, which includes building roads, installing water, sewer and electric service, said Village Manager Patti Bates.

“We’re looking at a month build that will be followed by some cultivation and we should have product for patients by June of 2018,” Cresco Labs CEO Charles Bachtell said.

>> State regulators defend medical marijuana program despite controversy

Those who were the driving force behind the failed 2015 marijuana legalization issue in Ohio are now backing a plan to put an issue on the November ballot that, if approved by the voters, would make marijuana legal for recreational use.

It’s not clear how that would affect the medical marijuana industry in the state.

“We are a medical cannabis operator and currently we operate only in medical programs,” Bachtell said. “We’ve evaluated Ohio for about a year as a medical program so that’s what we’re focused on right now.”

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