Ohio’s first legal medical marijuana crop is being harvested this week, but it could be several months before any will be in the hands of patients.

Agri-Med Ohio LLC in Meigs County is in the middle of its first harvest. Wellspring Fields in Ravenna completed its harvest earlier this week. Both are smaller, “level II” medical marijuana cultivators.

Flowers from Ohio’s first mature plants will be dried and ready for sale in early November. But when that marijuana is sold depends on when the first testing lab and dispensaries open.

As of today, none of the five state-licensed testing labs are operating and none of the 56 licensed dispensaries have opened their doors. No patients have been registered for the program, but the Ohio Board of Pharmacy says the patient and caregiver registry can be turned on as soon as Ohio’s market nears operation.

The state’s first testing lab could open at Hocking College in early November, and dispensaries could be ready in December, state regulators told the Ohio Medical Marijuana Advisory Board on Thursday.

Ohio missed its self-imposed deadline to be “fully operational” by Sept. 8 because of several delays in the licensing process, lawsuits and construction delays. [Read more at The Cincinnati Enquirer]