Marijuana Business Magazine - March 2018

www.starview.net/blister.html Starview manufactures standard and custom blister packaging systems. Visit with Starview at MJBizCon INT’L Toronto, ON, Canada August 14-16, 2018 Ohio In what’s believed to be a first for the U.S. medical marijuana industry, regulators awarded a $1.1 million con- tract to a private company for an MMJ patient call center. The three-year contract went to Direct Success, an Ohio-based company that has two subsidiaries working in the ancillary cannabis field. Direct Success owns Extra Step Assurance, which will run the Ohio call center, and Cannabis Expertise, which currently contracts separately with four state governments to help educate physicians who want to recommend MMJ for patients. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin set a June 26 date for voters to weigh in on whether to approve medical marijuana for the state. Fallin announced the date on Jan. 4, just hours after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions released his decision to rescind an Obama-era policy that allowed cannabis busi- nesses to thrive in states nationwide. The June date for a vote comes after a successful 2016 petition drive asking Oklahoma voters to put the matter on the ballot. Fallin, a Republican, appears cool toward the idea of MMJ.