VOL. 39, NO. 13
MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2018
Source Lunch
Akron Crystal Clinic’s specialty hospital is latest step in ‘steady’ growth. Page 24
CLEVELAND BUSINESS
Robert E. Comben Jr., Vocational Guidance Services CEO Page 27
Cleveland Downtown zoning could be ‘cleaned up.’ Page 4 EDUCATION
BUSINESS OF MARIJUANA
Shootings bring ideas for safety products
By JEREMY NOBILE
By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY
jnobile@crain.com @JeremyNobile
rmccafferty@crain.com @ramccafferty
With barely five months left before the scheduled start of Ohio’s medical marijuana program, the odds of having a fully functioning industry by then seem hazy at best. The underlying implication there is that patients may not have proper access to medical marijuana when they’re expected to in September. In turn, that could stymie growth of a highly anticipated cannabis industry here — one expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales per year that is already sprouting ancillary, marijuana-related businesses. “I think the (Ohio Department of Commerce), based on my experience with them, gets this stuff done,” said Mel Kurtz, CEO of Grow Ohio Pharmaceuticals, a provisionally licensed Level I cultivator in Newton Township. “But it isn’t going to be painless.” Kurtz, who also is president of Quasar Energy Group, which will provide power for the grow site, said his $15 million-to-$20 million facility is under construction. He said the market may not see finished product available for purchase until late-2018. Grow Ohio probably won’t have product ready until the first quarter of 2019, he said. And Kurtz doesn’t expect to turn a profit for at least two years.
Bill Barna doesn’t want people to need his product. The Bolo Stick — a steel pin that can be slid through a metal anchor on a door and into a hole in the floor below — can help to secure doors in an emergency. “I’m selling a product I hope to God people never have to use,” Barna said. Barna is just one of many people working in the school safety space in Northeast Ohio. As the gun control debate roils on in the United States, sparked most recently by the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., entrepreneurs and businesses are offering safety products and services to schools and other institutions. Some products, like software designed to monitor social media for certain words, can hopefully serve as a preventative measure. Others, like temporary barricades for doors or pepper sprays, aim to minimize casualties in the case of an emergency. Barna, president of Bolo Stick LLC in Trumbull County, got the idea for his company at his day job as a police officer for Howland Township. He spoke with principals often about their lockdown procedures, but realized their attempts to secure classroom doors would be lacking. Windows can be broken and locks unlocked. He created the Bolo Stick as a way to better secure doors in emergency situations. Similarly, Bill Cushwa started Hudson-based National School Control Systems LLC after the 2012 school shooting in Chardon. He had been working in development at Seton Catholic School and volunteering with a school safety community group in the city, and the idea of what would happen if someone couldn’t get out of a building in an emergency was “gnawing” at him.
Ohio’s marijuana program slow to metamorphize
SEE MARIJUANA, PAGE 23
Inside Banking: Finding banking partners isn’t easy in the industry. Page 10 Higher ed: NEO cannabis school fills an industry need. Page 12 Docs: Program’s success hinges on physician buy-in. Page 15
Illustration for Crain’s by Andrea Ucini
SEE SHOOTINGS, PAGE 23 Entire contents © 2018 by Crain Communications Inc.
Architecture << The
List: Northeast Ohio’s largest architectural firms Page 16 Analysis: Merger mania in the region has a big impact on the industry. Page 6