Ohio conditions a cultivator's certificate of operation on evidence of financial responsibility — an escrow account or a surety bond filed with the Division of Cannabis Control under OAC 1301:18-3-08: $750,000 for a level one cultivator, $75,000 for level two. The premium is 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, and the bond issues the moment you pay. The application includes a soft credit pull only — it never affects your score.
















The bond is one line on your certificate-of-operation checklist. Here's the entire process:
Business details, your license level, the bond amount, an effective date, and a soft-pull credit consent — a soft inquiry only, so it never affects your score. That is the entire application.
This bond is checkout-priced at 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, so it issues the moment you pay — no quote round-trip, no waiting on an underwriting queue.
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to submit with your certificate-of-operation filing or renewal. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
Ohio's cannabis rules require every licensee to maintain evidence of financial responsibility before the Division of Cannabis Control issues or renews a certificate of operation. A cultivator satisfies it with either an escrow account at an Ohio-chartered financial institution or a surety bond from a carrier licensed in Ohio — $750,000 for a level one cultivator, $75,000 for level two. Most operators choose the bond: it keeps that capital working in the business instead of frozen in escrow.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the Division of Cannabis Control as the protected party. The financial responsibility is payable to the division if a licensee fails to meet its compliance obligations under the cannabis rules — and the surety cannot cancel the bond without the division's prior written authorization, so the filing stays continuous.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays, you repay the surety. The rule also rewards clean operation: after your first full year of compliant operation the required amount drops by one-third, after a second consecutive year it drops by another third, and after three consecutive compliant years the obligation can be eliminated entirely. We re-issue at each reduced amount the division approves.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details, your license level, the bond amount, and a soft-pull credit consent that never affects your score.
Start the application →2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, issued the moment you pay, soft pull only. Free until issued.