The Verilife medical-marijuana dispensary in Columbia Township opened for business at 11 a.m. today after receiving its certificate of operation from the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy earlier this month.

The pharmacy board last week announced it had awarded certificates of operation to Verilife, at 5431 Ridge Ave., and two other dispensaries: Bloom Medicinals in Maumee, and Ohio Provisions in Carroll.

So far, less than half of the 56 dispensaries awarded provisional licenses last year have passed final inspection by the pharmacy board and received certificates to operate.

Verilife is w the nearest dispensary to Cincinnati with the necessary approval from the state to build up its product inventory and begin selling marijuana bud and marijuana-infused edibles and other products to registered patients.

Verilife is owned by Oak Park, Ill.-based PharmaCann, which also holds one of Ohio's large-scale, medical-marijuana cultivator licenses.

The dispensary should benefit from pent-up demand from local patients and caregivers who have been forced to drive long distances to get their medicine, according to General Manager Chaz Mize.

"There are thousands and thousands of cardholders who have not made a purchase yet with their Ohio (medical) marijuana card, and there are a sizable number of folks in that number that are in the Cincinnati market,'' Mize previously told The Enquirer.

Registered medical-marijuana patients and caregivers can legally buy marijuana in Ohio to treat 21 qualifying medical conditions, including cancer, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and glaucoma.

Through July, there were more than 57,000 registered medical marijuana patients and caregivers, and more than 30,000 had purchased medical marijuana at a dispensary, according to numbers provided by state regulators.

Before Verilife received its certificate to operate, the nearest active dispensary to Cincinnati was about 30 miles north of the city in Lebanon, where the About Wellness Ohio dispensary opened in May.

Several other dispensaries in and around Cincinnati recently told The Enquirer they believe they are close to getting their certificates to operate, including Have a Heart Cincy in Hartwell - the only dispensary inside the city limits - and Verdant Creations, also in Columbia Township.