PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Many Pennsylvanians buy gas across the Ohio line, where it’s cheaper. Many bought fireworks there until 2017, when they became legal in Pennsylvania.

Soon, many may go there for pot.

Ohio voters approved adult-use recreational pot last November, with dispensaries to be licensed by Sept. 7. So merchants in Northeastern Ohio are looking forward to selling Pittsburghers tokes over the line.

“We’re constantly getting calls from Pennsylvania,” says Terrell Washington, who co-owns Leaf Relief in Youngstown. “Everyone on the border is getting calls. We are staffing up as well as stocking up.”

At press time, Washington had received a provisional dual-use license and was awaiting further approvals to serve recreational customers. He plans to sell recreational and medical marijuana at his two current Leaf Relief stores in Youngstown and suburban Columbus as well as new shops he’s planning in each area.

Washington’s not the only Ohio dispenser looking eastward — others near the border say they’ll try to add locations there and draw Pennsylvanians. And, in June, Greenlight Dispensary, a chain in six other states, bought Ohio Valley Natural Relief in Wintersville, Ohio, outside Steubenville.

Greenlight did not comment, but the dispensary’s previous owner, Mike Petrella, says the new one plans to replace the 1,300-square-foot building with one about three times larger, plus a drive-through lane, partly to draw customers from nearby West Virginia (7 miles from the state border), where marijuana is not legal, and Pennsylvania (13 miles from the border).

Petrella, who also is the mayor of Wintersville, says that other area merchants are planning a hotel and a restaurant for travelers.

“Traffic is going to go through the roof,” he predicts. “People are going to be traveling here, spending the day, going shopping, going to a restaurant.”

Ohio’s legalization of recreational pot has spurred Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to make a similar push here; with the exception of West Virginia, Pennsylvania is completely surrounded by states that have legalized adult-use pot. (Medical marijuana was legalized in Pennsylvania in 2016.) Shapiro predicts the move could generate more than $255 million in annual tax revenue within five years.

In June, Democratic State Rep. Emily Kinkead of Brighton Heights and Republican State Rep. Aaron Kaufer of Luzerne County were promoting a bill for adult use. If it does pass, it would take at least a year to develop the regulations and prepare for sales.

Meredith Buettner, who leads the Pennsylvania Cannabis Association, says about the Ohio action: “We’re certainly using it to put some pressure on legislators to get moving.”

Will There Be Border Patrols?

In the meantime, there’ll be a catch for Pennsylvanians buying cannabis in O-High-O. It’s still unclear whether it will be legal to use pot there in public, and few accommodations there openly welcome it. But it can’t legally be brought back to Pennsylvania either. Even holders of Pennsylvania medical cards are limited to home-state marijuana. The two states don’t honor each other’s cards.

Are marijuana customers likely to be arrested near the border? Recreational pot dispensers in other border states say their customers haven’t been targeted. And Pennsylvania State Police Communications Director Myles Snyder says they hadn’t boosted enforcement near those states — Maryland, Delaware, New York and New Jersey — and probably won’t near Ohio.

All seems quiet on Pennsylvania’s western front, too. Petrella says, “The police, I can tell you, they have bigger issues going on than marijuana.”

Lt. Ray Santiago of the Ohio Highway Patrol wrote in an email: “The Patrol enforces all laws impartially and does not target individuals based on their state of origin.”

The federal government still prohibits possession but seldom prosecutes mere consumers. And President Joe Biden is moving to downgrade marijuana from the most restrictive category of drugs.

Access in Other States

For marijuana, Ohio will just require proof that customers are 21 or older. They can buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces at a time, enough to last an average user about 52 days, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Addiction, Research & Theory.

Ohio’s November measure was a law, not a constitutional amendment, so legislators could change it anytime. At press time, though, Ohio Division of Cannabis Control spokesman James Crawford said that the state agency was carrying out the law as written.

To predict Ohio’s traffic from Pennsylvania, experts look to other border states, where several proprietors say that they drew plenty of Pennsylvania customers.

Damien Cornwell, who runs Just Breathe dispensary in Binghamton, New York, as well as the Cannabis Association of New York, says that 5% to 10% of his shoppers come from Pennsylvania, about 8 miles away. At The Greenery Spot in Johnson City, New York, security guard Mel Maginley says, “We get quite a few daily … We’ve had Pittsburgh, Philly, Harrisburg, all over the place.”

Some Pittsburghers traveling to other destinations imbibe, too. John Duncan, who co-owns 716 Cannabis in Orchard Park, New York, says that fans in Steelers gear stopped there in January, when the team’s playoff game in that town was delayed by snow.

The Seneca Nation of Indians in Salamanca, New York, which has no sales tax, is an additional draw. A Butler County user who withheld his name says that he often bought joints at the reservation, about 45 minutes from his vacation home in that state.

New York also allows marijuana lounges, where Pennsylvanians can imbibe and sober up before driving home.

Local Pot Fests Grow

Of course, it’s not hard to buy recreational pot in Pennsylvania — it’s just illegal. Patrick Nightingale, head of Pittsburgh NORML, which advocates legalization, says, “We have a robust illicit market, so there isn’t a huge need to go out of state.”

At the second Steel City Cannabis Convention in Monroeville in May, an attendee who withheld his name said he gets plenty in Pennsylvania “legally and illegally.”

Jack Weber, who’s staging the fourth annual Pittsburgh Cannabis Festival in August, says, “I don’t know if there are enough patients in Western Pennsylvania that will choose to drive to Ohio over visiting a local dispensary to have a large impact on the current Pennsylvania medical program.”

But some consumers drive far for discounts. One Pittsburgh medical user says, “It’s cheaper to spend a weekend in Detroit, stock up and bring it back to Pennsylvania.”

Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side of the line. A few medical users say that they preferred products sold elsewhere but banned here, such as smokeable ones.

Pot fests are growing in popularity. “As things become more legal,” says Steel City organizer James McClintock, “people are coming out of the closet to learn what they didn’t know.” His May event at the Monroeville Convention Center drew about 3,000 people, triple his previous crowd. He’ll stage a third event in the same place on Sept. 14-15.

Last year’s Pittsburgh Cannabis Festival drew more than 6,000 people. This year’s will take place from noon to 5 p.m. on Aug. 11 in the northeast corner of Allegheny Commons Park on the North Side.

These gatherings feature vendors, music, food, education and related services, such as help applying for medical cards.

Recreational Pot Likely to Surge

Early this year, an ounce of high-quality medical marijuana cost an average of $330 in Ohio and $358 in Pennsylvania, according to NuggMD, a business linking patients to doctors for marijuana cards. When a state legalizes recreational pot, prices tend to soar awhile with the new demand, then settle as growers catch up.

Ohio dispensaries will charge 5.75% to 8% in sales tax, depending on the location, plus 10% for a buyer without a medical card from that state. If the U.S. downgrades marijuana to a less dangerous drug, the industry will qualify for tax breaks that might trickle down to consumers.

Back in Youngstown, dispensary co-owner Washington predicts Ohio’s sales should more than double soon, especially near the border.

“We look forward to welcoming some new friends from the Pennsylvania market.”

Grant Segall is a national prize-winning reporter who has written for The Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Philadelphia Magazine, Time, Reuters, Science, Oxford University Press and other outlets.