A cannabis dispensary in Jackson, Ohio shut its doors voluntarily after two customers reported serious adverse health effects from a vape pen purchased there, and a person reportedly died at a local hospital emergency room within five or six days of the dispensary's closure. The Herbal Wellness Center closed at the request of the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control while state regulators and the company investigate what went wrong.
According to Signal Cleveland, a person reportedly died at the Holzer Medical Center emergency room within five or six days of the dispensary's closure. The cause of death remains unknown pending an autopsy report, and the county coroner's office has sent the body for that examination. Reporter Jake Zuckerman notes that the relationship between the death and products sold at the dispensary is unknown.
The Herbal Wellness Center is owned by Vext Sciences, which operates dispensaries in Ohio and Arizona. Vext's four other Ohio locations remain open during the investigation, the outlet reports, and the company says it was not aware of substantiated evidence that any Vext product caused or contributed to either reported medical event.
Vapen Cartridges Put on Hold Pending Lab Review
Vapen-branded cartridge products are on a precautionary hold pending laboratory review, and some products were put on hold from sales or transfer to other stores while additional testing continues, the report states. Vext Sciences says it tests products at independent, state-licensed laboratories before sale. The company funded follow-up testing that was conducted at an independent laboratory, and that testing did not detect harmful contaminants, according to the same account.
The Ohio Division of Cannabis Control conducted its own follow-up testing on a sample from the same product lot as one purchased by a patient with adverse health effects. State regulators are investigating the reported health events and product but declined to provide details about the health events or the product at issue, and the article notes they are not disclosing health-related information or specific product details.
Ohio state officials license, oversee, and investigate the legal marijuana industry, while the local county health department does not inspect the Herbal Wellness Center and does not keep records on it. Kevin Aston said the county health department was not involved in the investigation, per the same account. Buster Hall said it was too soon to draw conclusions about whether the death was related to the products, while Scott Everett declined to comment on health-related matters or specific products.
State Rules Require Quarantine and Recall Coordinators
Ohio's regulatory framework gives the Division of Cannabis Control considerable power to freeze suspect inventory quickly. Under Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1301:18-9-04, regulated cannabis licensees are required to maintain written recall procedures, designate a recall coordinator, immediately quarantine affected product upon an alert from the division or a recall, and record information about customer complaints. The state also uses administrative holds within its METRC tracking software, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce, globally locking inventory across licensed facilities so operators cannot generate transfer manifests or sell flagged packages during safety inquiries.
The Jackson dispensary sits at the center of Vext's Ohio operations. The company acquired Jackson-based Appalachian Pharm Processing, LLC in October 2023 for approximately $12.5 million, establishing a vertically integrated platform that includes a 25,000-square-foot Tier I cultivation facility and manufacturing plant in Jackson, according to a Newsfile release from Vext Science. In February 2025, the company relocated and expanded its Jackson Herbal Wellness Center to a central location on Veterans Drive equipped with a drive-thru window, in the same municipality as Holzer Medical Center - Jackson, a 24-bed Critical Access Hospital with a 24-hour emergency room.
CEO Says Products Passed State Testing Before Sale
Vext Science CEO Eric Offenberger confirmed the company voluntarily quarantined certain product lines across its Ohio retail and manufacturing locations and submitted samples for third-party testing, according to MedicateOH. Offenberger emphasized that all inventory had previously passed state-mandated lab testing, and the outlet reports Vext maintains it has not received specific details linking its products to the reported health incidents.
The episode lands amid rapid growth in Ohio's legal cannabis market. The state's adult-use market generated approximately $836 million in non-medical sales in 2025, with total legal sales clearing $1 billion in the state's first full year since recreational sales launched in August 2024, according to the Moritz College of Law. Sales opened to all adults 21 and older after voters approved Issue 2 in late 2023.
Regulatory oversight of that expanding market has also tightened. Senate Bill 56, which took effect in March 2026, restructured state cannabis statutes by combining medical and adult-use regulations under the Division of Cannabis Control while establishing strict original-packaging and motor vehicle transport mandates, as Hoodline previously reported on new weed rules. That same month, state regulators also issued a Class II recall for Modern Flower Minis “White Truffle” cannabis flower across dispensaries in Columbus and Cincinnati following a testing violation, an incident Hoodline covered in its report on the botched test.
Vext has continued expanding its Ohio footprint even as the investigation unfolds. The company was granted a provisional dual-use license for a seventh Ohio dispensary location on the west side of Columbus in March 2026, moving closer to the state's statutory limit of eight dispensaries per operator.
