Resident asks council for resolution to open

One unexpected development at the Ironton City Council meeting on Thursday was a woman who came before council to get a resolution to open a marijuana dispensary in Ironton.

Cheryl Shuman, of Ironton, told council that marijuana had been legalized in Ohio and that there would be one dispensary in a four-county area.

“We would very much like to apply for the license,” she said, adding that the licenses would be approved in the next three weeks for the area including Lawrence, Scioto, Gallia and Jackson counties.

The license would be just to dispense marijuana not to grow it since the cultivation licenses have already been given out.

“So we missed out on that, unfortunately, because that is a huge loss. They estimate that the very first year, the revenue from the cannabis industry in Ohio alone is going to be $8 billion,” Shuman said.

She said California has been her base of operations for several years, but she returned here to be with her disabled father. She said she is a certified geneticist, a certified master grower and a legal cannabis patient, who has worked in legalization campaigns in not only the U.S. but in Canada, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.

“I am making this home and I am doing everything I can to use my business skills and my fundraising skills to do something for our community,” she said, adding that it helps a number of medical conditions and is a good exit drug for the opioid addicted. “I am here to offer my services.”

Shuman said she was willing to work with the council to draft a resolution that would benefit the city and whatever the city needs. She said that the dispensary would create 300 jobs right at first.

“And I could go up to 5,000 jobs very quickly depending on demand,” she said.

Vice Mayor Craig Harvey asked Shuman what she needed from council.

“Very simply, what you need to decide is ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ whether we want a dispensary or not,” she said, adding if it was ‘no,’ she was happy to walk.

Councilman Kevin Waldo asked if she had met with other cities in the four-county zone. She replied she had met with the Portsmouth City Council on Monday.

Waldo asked if Ironton would be in competition with Portsmouth to get a dispensary.

Shuman said the location was up to whoever applied for the license and no one but her had applied for the license.

“So the chances are that, wherever I decide to land is where it will be,” she said, but added that others could apply for the license.

Harvey cut off Shuman and suggested she get with Mayor Katrina Keith to propose an ordinance.

Shuman said she would be happy to have town hall meetings on the matter if that was wanted.

Shuman’s partner, Greg Caudill, of Ironton, ran Park Avenue Chiropractic for 20 years as well as doing financial matters, said he brought the issue of medical marijuana to the council last year.

He said he was trying to convince Shuman that this was the place to put a dispensary.

“To me, it is strategically located,” he said. “I don’t want it to go to Chesapeake, I don’t want it to go to Portsmouth.”

Harvey said that the revenue could help the city with some of the water infrastructure issues in Ironton.

They were told that for an ordinance to get on the agenda, they would have to have a council member sponsor it and the next council meeting was in two weeks.