SALEM, Ohio — A new agricultural movement is making its way through Ohio residents that hasn’t been seen in over a century: the legal cultivation of cannabis.
Recreational marijuana and home growing of cannabis plants were made legal through the passing of the voter-approved Issue 2 statute in November 2023. Since then, many Ohio residents have taken steps to grow their own cannabis at home.
Johnny Lutz, of Parma, Ohio, is one of these homegrowers, in addition to being an advocate for cannabis cultivation. He started hosting a series called the Ohio Cannabis Farmers Markets to enable Ohio residents to get involved in cultivating cannabis, despite some efforts by lawmakers to discourage the practice.
“True legalization comes when everybody has access to the plant, not just corporations that want to make money,” Lutz said.
Ohio Cannabis Farmers Markets
Lutz, professionally known as Johnny Cannabis, is a huge proponent of home-growing and says growing cannabis plants is a gateway into agriculture.
“I think people (who grow cannabis) will easily realize they have a green thumb and want to start growing (more plants), even if it’s a small garden or some fruit trees,” Lutz said. “It’s a big opportunity to introduce farming and agriculture, even at a small scale, to the community.”
Issue 2, passed by 57% of Ohio voters, allows Ohio residents to grow six cannabis plants per individual and 12 per household.
Lutz hosts Ohio Cannabis Farmers Markets across the state, a space for people to learn about home growing cannabis, and allows them to buy the necessary tools for growing. But he was involved in cannabis even before it was recreational. Lutz has been a cannabis user for over 20 years, and previously worked in his friend’s grow shop — a store that sells equipment for cannabis cultivation.
He started advocating for cannabis legalization in 2016 — the same year medical marijuana was made legal in the state — when he founded Ohiocannabis.com to cover developments in Ohio’s cannabis industry.
Lutz held his first cannabis event in 2017, which was a symposium that brought together cannabis investors and others involved in the industry. He took a break from hosting events for a few years, in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But when Issue 2 passed in 2023, days later, he launched the Ohio Cannabis Farmers Market events.
His first farmers market was held on Feb. 11, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. He held six events in 2024 and has four events planned for this year. The events feature a wide range of vendors to help people get involved in growing cannabis, from local grow shops to nutrient and lighting companies.
“I’d say probably 90% of the people that attend my events are new growers,” Lutz said. He likes to book venues at old historic barns or spaces with sprawling landscapes. Smoking is allowed at his events, but only outside, and if the property owner permits it.
“Whenever I’m targeting venues, I have a very specific criteria of things I look for in order to make these events happen so people can experience legalization properly and safely,” Lutz said. He worked directly with Springville, Ohio’s fire chief and police chief last year for a 4-20 event — the date is considered a national holiday for the plant.
One big aspect of his events is the Ohio Cannabis Farmers Cup, a competition where home growers can win a prize for the products they cultivate. The prizes are from Osbourne Mint in Cincinnati, Ohio, which makes cannabis coins for the winners.
Lutz says trading and sharing cannabis plants with other growers plays a huge part in how the cannabis-cultivation industry evolves.
“That’s what the cannabis community is all about,” said Lutz. “It’s that real culture of growers trading genetics amongst each other, to be excited to go home and grow your own strain.”
Homegrown focus
Like Lutz, Randall Jenkins has seen a new interest in homegrowing since the passage of Issue 2. Jenkins, of Akron, Ohio, previously worked as a professor at the Cleveland School of Cannabis and has worked at Indoor Gardens since 2022, a hydroponics shop based in Cleveland, Akron and Columbus.
He left the Cleveland School of Cannabis in 2024 and now works full-time at Indoor Gardens as an educational programming and expo coordinator for cannabis cultivation. Every day, he sees Ohio residents “from all walks of life” come in, interested in learning how to grow cannabis.
“I got 80-year-old people that are gonna die tomorrow from cancer, and I have 19-year-old kids that can’t wait to turn 21,” Jenkins said. “It was about six months ago, this one guy came into the shop and was like ‘I’m going to grow weed before I die.’ He goes ‘I got stage III terminal cancer and I have been waiting for this my entire life. What do I need to get this grow going.” I said, ‘Dude, follow me.’”
Jenkins teaches classes on cannabis cultivation at Indoor Gardens’ three locations and at events across Ohio. This is how he met Lutz, working with Great Lakes Propagation in 2024 at one of his Ohio Cannabis Farmers Markets.
With growing cannabis so new to Ohio residents, Jenkins emphasizes the importance of events like Lutz’s.
“The biggest challenge to homegrow would be the access to information because there’s information out there, but how much of it is bogus?” Jenkins said. The farmers markets allow new growers to make connections with experienced and knowledgeable growers, he says.
Even as more residents take an interest in cannabis cultivation, some Ohio lawmakers are working to discourage the practice. If passed, Ohio Senate Bill 56 and House Bill 160 would prohibit homegrowers from sharing cannabis and place restrictions on where it can be smoked. SB 56 would also limit the number of plants a person could grow. The bills are currently working their way through the legislature.
“To shut somebody like Johnny down would be shutting someone down who does it right,” Jenkins said. “I will tell you about 80% of our industry here in Ohio, the home growers are growing because they have some kind of idea that they want to heal something.”
Despite the uncertainty, Lutz is preparing for his next Ohio Cannabis Farmers Market on May 17 from 4:20-10 p.m. at Crawford Barn, 5825 Raiders Road, Frazeysburg, Ohio.
For him, growing cannabis is not about making money, it’s about the experience and the people; he hopes lawmakers will see it that way.
“As humans, we experience tranquility working with a growing thing, when you start from seeds or a little plant and you see it develop, you’re in awe and wonder of what that can do and how you could help it do that,” Lutz said. “Cannabis is obviously cool, fun and interesting; it really piques people’s interest. If non-weed smoking corporations can make money off cannabis, people should have that legal right to grow their own, and it’s all people want to do.”
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
