ST. CLAIRSVILLE — History was made in November with the Cannabist Company opening its doors to become the first recreational and medical marijuana dispensary in Belmont County.

Located at 51710 National Road East, the store is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Legal sales began in the state in August 2024, following the November 2023 General Election that approved recreational marijuana with a 57% vote.

Keri Stan, Cannabist Company Director of National Retail Operations, said that when looking to expand into Belmont County, St. Clairsville was her number one choice due to its central location within the county.

The Cannabist Company was able to beat Sunnyside Recreational and Medical Marijuana Dispensary, which announced the past April that it would be opening in early 2026 in Bridgeport, to the punch. Sunnyside will be operated by Cresco Labs and will be located at 435 Main Street.

Stan said that the ability to expand to Belmont County came after the state of Ohio offered medical marijuana dispensaries the opportunity to apply to receive a 10(B) dispensary license. The license is issued to medical marijuana dispensaries with a certificate of operation or provisional license with no common ownership or control with any marijuana cultivator or process, according to Ohiocannabisinformation.org.

She added that the opportunity to apply comes from the Cannabist Company having had five medical marijuana dispensaries throughout Ohio prior to recreational marijuana becoming legal in 2023.

The St. Clairsville store employs 19 people locally.

Although marijuana is legal in Ohio, customers are legally only permitted to buy 2.5 ounces per visit. It offers flower, vape cartridges, tinctures, topicals, sublinguals and edibles such as gummies, drinks and chocolate to shoppers who are 21 or older . Customers must be 21 or older who must provide a valid drivers license when entering the location and prior to entering the store section of the building.

In addition to products, the store also sells batteries for cartridges, vape devices for flower concentrates, lighters, rolling papers and a small selection of smoking pipes.

Cresco Labs Vice President of Government Affairs Christian Ficara said that he believes people are going to buy cannabis one way or another, and if it’s not from a licensed regular operator, it’s probably from the illicit market.

He added that using marijuana is a safer alternative to a lot of things out there. People have been smoking marijuana for a very long time, just via the illicit market, which Ficara described as a very dangerous enterprise because products could be laced with fentanyl heavy metals or contaminated with E. coli.