Small amounts of medical marijuana should be available in Ohio before the end of the year.

The state’s first harvest of cannabis plants, at a few small growers, should be through processing and testing sometime next month, said Kerry Francis, spokeswoman for the Department of Commerce. The department, which oversees the state’s new medical marijuana program, had hoped to have some cannabis available this month, but testing labs, which will confirm a product’s potency and check for contamination, have yet to be certified.

Labs should be inspected by mid-December, Francis said.

“We expect to have some very limited amounts [of cannabis], maybe enough for a few hundred patients, available by the end of the year,” she said.

Which dispensaries will receive marijuana and how much is available is not yet known, Francis said. The state hopes to have a clearer picture of that next month.

The state is also making progress on signing up doctors to recommend medical marijuana. Doctors cannot prescribe marijuana because it is still illegal at a federal level. Ohio now has 319 physicians certified to recommend marijuana, up from 293 last month. [Read more at Akron Beacon Journal]