Buckeye Relief ready for Ohio’s first harvest of medical marijuana

EASTLAKE, OH (WOIO) - At Buckeye Relief in Eastlake they call it the flower room, and to step into their bio secure facility you are required to wear a sterile white gown to avoid any contamination of the marijuana buds.

Andy Rayburn, the CEO of Buckeye Relief, could best be compared to a proud father as he led our crew around the flower room.

“All these beautiful flowers, which have turned out fantastic, are going to be in the hands of Ohio’s patients in January,” Rayburn said.

Buckeye Relief, as a Level One cultivator, was granted 25 thousand square feet of grow space and the plants they are getting ready to harvest were started as seeds on July 31.

“We feel a real responsibility especially since were the first Level One to harvest and we want to set a good tone for the whole market,” Rayburn said.

A select few plants have already been harvested and have been moved to the trim room, but the majority of their 1,500 plants will be harvested next week.

In the trim room the plants will be stripped of stems and leaves, leaving just the buds. A crew from a state inspection lab will soon be on hand to test random samples and then the buds will be sent to a processor, and finally a dispensary.

The technology here is state-of-the-art. The team relies on experienced cannabis cultivators, but Rayburn admits they have room to grow.

“Our 5th harvest will probably be almost twice as robust as this harvest and we’ve learned a ton from this harvest,” Rayburn said.

He added, “Our second harvest is 3 weeks behind and we’re also learning there.”

Buckeye Relief has applied for processing and dispensary licenses, but for now they are in the cultivation business and doing everything they can they say to bring the best possible product to market.

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