LOUDONVILLE — The village of Loudonville received $18,000 from cannabis tax funds after the Department of Taxation began releasing funds on Jan. 7.
Loudonville fiscal officer Jenny Wade said there are no plans in place for where that money will be spent, but its release was highly anticipated by council members.
Those funds were collected through a 10-percent excise tax on cannabis sales, with 36 percent of that tax money collected going to a Cannabis Social Equity and Jobs Fund and a Host Community Cannabis Fund and the rest going to state’s general revenue fund.
That money totals over $33 million, collected via dispensary sales from July 2024 to November 2025 across the state, according to an Ohio Senate article.
It will be divided among the 47 counties that have operating dispensaries.
Loudonville’s dispensary, Klutch Cannabis, officially opened June 19, meaning the money only represents sales over the last seven months.
It is the only dispensary in Ashland County.
Loudonville Village Council approved removing a moratorium on adult use cannabis businesses on Aug. 5, 2024, allowing a dispensary to be located anywhere except downtown Loudonville.
Wade said there was not a lot of apprehension to allow a dispensary from council members or the public, but Loudonville voters narrowly approved allowing cannabis sales in the state in the November 2023 election when Issue 2 was on the ballot.
However the majority vote in Ashland County was a no at 55%.
Other nearby towns are receiving more money because those dispensaries have been selling products since Aug. 6, 2024.
For example, Mansfield received roughly $142,000 and Marion received roughly $239,000.
Bigger cities saw larger funds: Cincinnati received nearly $3 million, Columbus got over $4 million and Dayton received nearly $1.1 million.
Local governments are seeing the money now because lawmakers agreed on updating the language in the law in November to require childproof packaging, prohibiting public and vehicle smoking, and banning hemp product sales outside of dispensaries.
The update also included the disbursement of tax funds.