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Ohio’s first recreational marijuana sale goes to man who slept in car
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Ohio’s first recreational marijuana sale goes to man who slept in car

COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP, OHIO − One of the first legal recreational marijuana sales in Ohio was to a 55-year-old Cincinnati resident who camped out in his car overnight in a dispensary parking lot.

Jeff Riede, of Cincinnati’s Madisonville neighborhood, was first in line in a crowd of a dozen people who gathered outside the Sunnyside dispensary on Kennedy Avenue in Columbia Township before dawn Tuesday. It was one of several dispensaries that opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

He said he had been waiting in his car in the parking lot since about 6:30 p.m. Monday for the dispensary to open at 7 a.m. to buy groceries and some flowers.

Further: You’ll soon be able to buy recreational marijuana in Ohio. What to know if you visit a dispensary

“Yes, I slept in my car,” Riede said. “This is epic for me. I wanted to be the first one there.”

Riede, who is self-employed, said he has been smoking marijuana since he was 18, but he doesn’t like the risk that comes with buying pot on the black market. That’s one of the reasons he’s so excited about opening the dispensary for recreational users.

“It’s safer at the dispensary,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about getting robbed or the marijuana being laced with something that could harm you.”

On Monday, the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Cannabis Control Division said 98 dispensaries will receive dual-use operating certificates statewide by Tuesday morning.

Ohioans voted last year to legalize recreational marijuana for consumers 21 and older in last November’s election, making it legal to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and 15 grams of extracts or edibles.

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