Ohio conditions a testing laboratory's certificate of operation on evidence of financial responsibility — an Ohio escrow account or a $75,000 surety bond filed with the Division of Cannabis Control under OAC 1301:18-3-08. Ours is $1,500 flat, the price you see is the checkout price, 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, an effective date, a term, and a credit consent that authorizes a soft pull only — a soft inquiry that never affects your score. That is the entire application.
This bond is checkout-priced at $1,500 flat, so it issues the moment you pay — your executed bond and power of attorney generate on the spot, with no quote round-trip.
Your executed bond arrives 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 carry evidence of financial responsibility before the Division of Cannabis Control issues or renews a certificate of operation. A testing laboratory satisfies it with either an escrow account at a chartered financial institution in Ohio or a $75,000 surety bond written by a corporate surety licensed in Ohio. Most laboratories choose the bond: it keeps that capital working in the lab instead of frozen in escrow.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the Division of Cannabis Control at the Ohio Department of Commerce as the protected party. The financial responsibility stands behind your obligations under the cannabis rules — the licensing, testing, and reporting duties a laboratory takes on. Neither the escrow agent nor the surety may release the funds or 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 a claim, you repay the surety. The rule also rewards clean operation: a licensee may petition the division for a reduction after one full year of operation in compliance, for a further reduction after two consecutive years, and for termination of the obligation after three consecutive years. We re-issue at each reduced amount the division approves, and we send renewal notices 60 and 30 days out.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details, an effective date, a term, and a credit consent that authorizes a soft pull only.
Start the application →$1,500 flat, issued the moment you pay, soft pull only. Free until issued.