More strife is on the horizon for Ohio’s troubled medical cannabis program. On Feb. 20, 2018, a group of unsuccessful medical cannabis applicants, led by Jimmy Gould of CannAscend Ohio LLC, filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s medical cannabis licensing process.

Gould, who was the founder of the controversial cannabis group ResponsibleOhio, had threatened in the past to sue the state over the licensing process but had yet to follow through with his threats until now.

The other plaintiffs in the case are Appalachian Pharm Products LLC, CannaMed Therapeutics LLC, Palliatech Ohio LLC, Trillium Holdings Inc. and Schottenstein Aphria LLC.

According to Cleveland.com, the suit lays out several complaints against the licensing process, including the following:

• Scores of at least 14 applicants were incorrectly graded;
• two companies that were awarded licenses set aside for minority-owned businesses were not in fact owned by minorities;
• several scoring consultants had apparent conflicts of interest with companies that were awarded licenses, including two consultants with foreknowledge of the scoring rubric; and
• five licensees that should have been disqualified were still awarded licenses.

A hearing for the case has not yet been set.