Introduction
The adult-use marijuana law that legalized recreational use of cannabis in the state of Ohio included a number of provisions prohibiting adult-use operators from locating near facilities deemed prohibited facilities under Section 3780.01 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC). Under the new law, barring a few exceptions as defined in ORC Section 3789.07, adult use operators cannot operate within 500 feet of a church, public library, public playground, public park, or school as defined in ORC Section 3796.30.
According to our analysis displayed in the following map and published in July of 2024, there are nearly 17,000 locations classified as either a public library, a school, or a church in the state of Ohio. Unfortunately, due to limited data availability, we were not able to include locations considered public playgrounds or public parks. Our analysis would require comprehensive shapefiles for these locations, which currently do not exist. While we were able to identify 76 state parks and over 800 locations considered parks using Google’s mapping technology, there are an untold number of public playgrounds that are also not included in the map. These parks and playgrounds, together with schools, churches, and public libraries, bring the likely number of prohibited locations to over 18,000.
- Schools – 6,551 locations
- Churches – 9,934 locations
- Public Libraries – 719 locations
Our map should be used only for illustration purposes given the following limitations:
- Dashboard excludes all public parks and playgrounds.
- The map uses only a circular buffer from a specific geolocation, instead of using the 500-feet buffer from the actual facility boundaries.
- Buffers start at generated coordinates, which may not be the facility’s central location or ending boundary of real estate.
- We used a geocoding service called Geocodio to generate this map. This service uses a highly advanced proprietary engine but may still have some inaccuracies. Geocodio converts addresses into geographic coordinates and provides other census-related location data and provided the coordinates for all the prohibited facility locations used for the map.
- The used location data for prohibited facilities was collected at a certain point in time and thus some locations may no longer be active, and some active locations might have not been recorded.
If you are an aspiring marijuana licensee, please contact your local planners to assist you in determining if your proposed facility site is located near or within a prohibited zone.
Due to the significant amount of data used to generate this map, please pay special attention to the navigation instructions below. If you have any trouble using or accessing the map, please reach out to ridgway.54@osu.edu for assistance.
- Map Overview: The map displays all locations statewide. Use the county filter in the top right-hand corner to filter locations by county.
- Facility Information: Locations are color-coded by type and display facility name, address, and purpose. Filter by facility purpose by selecting the type under the Purpose category.
- Adjusting Buffer Distance: Use the Buffer Distance slider to change the buffer size (0-10,000 feet).
- Map Reset: To reset the map after making a selection, scroll to the top left-hand corner and click the Home icon labeled “Zoom Home”.
- Navigating the Map: To move around the map, use the map controls on the left, hover/click the Play button icon, and select the intersecting lines with arrows, or press the “F” key on your keyboard. This enables moving the map by clicking and dragging (hold left mouse key) to the desired location. Zoom with the mouse touchpad, scroll wheel, or the dashboard controls in the top left-hand corner.
Map of Prohibited Areas for Marijuana Operators Across Ohio
We have provided specific keyboard navigation instructions for the visualization that follows. Keyboard navigation instructions for Tableau are available as well.