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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio cities are finally getting their long-awaited revenue from recreational marijuana sales.

After a year and a half of marijuana sales, cities are finally getting their payouts.

“It’s a decent chunk of change for sure,” City of Cleveland Spokesperson Tyler Sinclair said.

In November of 2023, 57% of Ohioans voted yes on Issue 2: the legalization of recreational cannabis. The law gives the 10% tax revenue from each marijuana sale to four different venues: 36% to the social equity fund to help people disproportionately impacted by marijuana-related laws; 36% to host cities — ones that have dispensaries; 25% to the state’s mental health and addiction services department; and 3% to the state’s cannabis control department.

Due to a procedural issue, that money had been sitting in a state fund.

“We expected to receive some of the revenues last year, and that didn’t happen,” City of Akron Finance Director Steve Fricker said.

Although that funding structure was just changed by lawmakers, the state did release the money to the municipalities.

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I have been covering marijuana policy extensively for years, including a series answering viewer questions about cannabis.

Sinclair explained that Cleveland just received about $740,000 of the 800,000 they earned through 2025.

“We’re appreciative and glad we can use that towards some basic city services, including some public safety,” Sinclair said.

“Do you think any of it could go to roads?” I asked him.

“I know roads are top of mind right now, especially because of the weather,” he said, chuckling. “It’s really bad weather we’ve got, it’s being reported that we’re going to get a record Snowmageddon… It’s undetermined exactly the specifics of what the money is going to go towards.”

The marijuana dispensaries earned about $36 million total for their communities, the state reported.

While Cleveland was in the top ten performers, it paled in comparison to Columbus, which earned $4.7 million. Cincinnati will bring in $2.5 million, and Columbia Township in Hamilton County is next with $1.5 million. Dayton earned $1.2 million; Canton will get $1.1 million; Monroe City in central Ohio will have $950,000; Wintersville Village by Steubenville is getting $900,000.

Next, Akron is set to receive about $880,000.

“We’re happy to have the revenue,” Fricker said.

The amount was a bit lower than Akron expected, but he’s grateful to have it for the city’s needs.

“It’s going to go into our general fund that the city has, that primarily funds our police officers and firefighters,” he said.

He predicts they will only earn more.

“We have some dispensaries that are going through the approval process now,” Fricker said. “When those might open, [those] would impact what future revenue that we get.”

Sinclair isn’t sure why other cities did better, he said, but he guessed the number of dispensaries played a role.

Cleveland’s surrounding areas have dispensaries, whereas Akron has a stronghold on Summit County. Columbus, which is triple the land mass of Cleveland and triple the population, also has triple the number of dispensaries.

Still, a handful of cities decided to ban marijuana sales. Some of them said they didn’t think the money would be enough.

“Is 700-some-thousand dollars worth it?” I asked Sinclair.

“I would say anytime that we can get an influx of money, especially $750,000, that’s money that we don’t have currently, and that’s money that will go towards various needs in our community,” he said. “I do want to level set with some expectations. It’s not going be enough for us to build a brand new skyscraper in the middle of downtown Cleveland, right?”

The cities are expecting to get the rest of the money in the coming weeks.

Other cities and their plans

Cleveland Heights

“The City of Cleveland Heights is excited to receive $190,000 from the allocation. We have not yet determined possible uses for the funds. We plan to work with City Council to consider options that best serve our residents,” a spokesperson for the city said.

Columbus

“In 2024 Columbus City Council legislated that these funds, when received, will go into a Cannabis Host Community Special Reserve Fund, with future use requiring the approval of Council. Mayor Ginter would like to see these funds directed toward critical needs constrained in this year’s budget, so they strengthen core services for Columbus residents,” a spokesperson for the city said.

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Have questions? Let me know, and I’ll answer them.

I have continued to cover any and all changes to marijuana policy that lawmakers are trying to make.

I also have a series answering your questions about cannabis in Ohio. Please email me written questions — or a video of you asking a question — to be featured in our next edition. Send questions to Morgan.Trau@wews.com with the subject line “THC questions.”

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.