The Forest in Sandusky opened on January 16, 2019 and was one of the first dispensaries to open in Ohio.  The Forest is owned by Standard Wellness Company LLC, most often referred to as Standard Wellness.  The company has a cannabis cultivation facility in Gibsonburg, Ohio as well as another dispensary in Springfield.  The company also has its cultivation license in Utah and Missouri.

Standard Wellness was founded in 2017 by Erik Vaughan, who initially served as the CEO.  The company is now led by CEO Jared Maloof and Marc DeLuca, Director of Finance.

Ohio Grown Therapies in Newark opened on January 24, 2020.  The Johnstown based company also owns a cultivation facility in Johnstown and is lead by CEO Andy Joseph.  The company is co-owned by Maui Grown Therapies in Hawaii.

Buckeye Botanicals opened on February 20, 2019 in Jackson, OH.  It was among the first dispensaries to open in the state and first to open in the South-Central region of Ohio.  The dispensary is owned by Eric Ryant, Tom McFall and Daniel Ianni.  It is currently their only dispensary in Ohio though Ryant owns a cultivation facility in Colorado.

Rise Medical Marijuana dispensary in Lorain, Ohio is owned by Green Thumb Industries or GTI Ohio LLC.  GTI is a large Chicago based cultivator and retail operator.  GTI currently operates 5 dispensaries in Ohio and 31 dispensaries in 9 states under the Rise brand.

Green Thumb Industries is run by founder and CEO Ben Kovler and CFO Anthony Georgiadis.  GTI cultivates, manufactures and distributes cannabis products under the brands Beboe, Dogwalkers, Dr. Solomon’s, Good Green, incredibles and Rythm. The company also owns and operates rapidly growing national retail cannabis stores called Rise. The company runs 16 manufacturing facilities, 66 open retail locations and operations across 14 U.S. markets.

The company came under scrutiny for being involved in a federal pay-to-play investigation in March 2021.