COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Medical marijuana dispensaries plan to set-up shop at 56 sites approved Monday by the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy.

The board received 376 applications to sell medical marijuana in November and could award up to 60 provisional licenses distributed in "districts" of one or multiple counties. Two districts had no applicants, and the sole applicant in a third was disqualified.

Eighteen provisional licenses were awarded in the Northeast Ohio district, including five in Cuyahoga County.

Map by Jackie Borchardt, cleveland.com

The Cuyahoga County licensees:

Cannamed Therapeutics LLC: 10500 Antenucci Blvd., Suite 200, Garfield Heights

Greenleaf Apothecaries LLC: 3865 Lakeside Ave. E., Cleveland

GTI Ohio LLC: 11818 Madison Ave., Lakewood

GTI Ohio LLC: Approximately 18607-18609 Detroit Ave., Lakewood

GTI Ohio LLC: 1222-1224 Prospect Ave. E, Cleveland

David Neundorfer, CEO of Cleveland tech startup Linestream Technologies, is the CEO of Greenleaf Apothecaries, according to redacted applications made available Monday. Greater Cleveland businessman Bobby George is heading up GTI Ohio, an offshoot of an Illinois medical marijuana company. Owners of Cannamed Therapeutics include by Dr. Kailash Kedia, a Northeast Ohio urologist, Dr. Anurag Kedia of Columbus and Craig Maurer, who owns a home care agency.

Provisional license winners have six months to meet all requirements before they can open their doors to consumers.

Board director Steven Schierholt said several safeguards were put in place to ensure correct scores were recorded.

"We were very sensitive to some of the problems the Department of Commerce had with their scoring and the criticism they received," Schierholt said at a Monday meeting before the board approved the licenses.

Dispensaries will sell medical marijuana plant material for vaping, and in oil, tinctures, lotions, patches, and edibles. Ohio's law prohibits smoking marijuana or growing it at home.

Patients with one of 21 qualifying medical conditions can buy and use marijuana after registering through a doctor certified to recommend medical marijuana in Ohio. Patient registrations are expected to begin in July.

Ohio's medical marijuana program is supposed to be "fully operational" by Sept. 8, but state officials acknowledged in April that won't be the case. Twenty-five companies have been awarded cultivation licenses, but none have been given the OK to begin growing plants.

Licenses for product testing labs and processors are expected to be awarded this month.

Dispensaries must be at least 500 feet from schools, churches, libraries, and playgrounds. Cities, townships and villages can restrict where medical marijuana businesses can locate, and many have banned them.

Patients and advocates have worried that the initial number of dispensaries will not be enough to serve patients across the state, especially in rural areas. The pharmacy board can award additional licenses after Sept. 8 based on consumer demand.

Three companies were awarded the maximum five licenses: 127 OH LLC, Greenleaf Apothecaries LLC and GTI Ohio LLC. Cannamed Therapeutics LLC, CannAscend Alternative LLC and Verdant Creations LLC each were awarded four licenses.

A controversial site in Huron, at an old Burger King restaurant near an elementary school, also was awarded a license. Residents there have pushed Huron officials to restrict where marijuana businesses can locate.

The pharmacy board contracted with North Highland Company, an Atlanta-based company that helped Minnesota and Pennsylvania with their medical marijuana programs, to help it review and score applications. The original contract was for $729,000 for up to 250 applications.

North Highland has been paid $808,320 as of Monday, according to state budget records, and the board budgeted $1.3 million for the application evaluation and scoring process.

Dispensary applicants paid a $5,000 fee for each application, and licensees will pay a $70,000 license fee every other year.

Provisional licenses awarded Monday