As it nears a potential vote next week on medical marijuana, the Senate today made a number of bill changes, including those that seek to speed up the implementation and give Ohioans immediate access to the drug. A chief complaint of the House-passed bill among medical marijuana proponents was Ohioans would have to wait for up to two years before getting access to the drug while regulations, farms and distributors were established. The latest version of the bill, accepted in Senate committee on Wednesday, allows patients to obtain medical marijuana from out of state via prescription in forms legal under the bill, before the system is fully established in Ohio. [continues 547 words]
Because the people of Ohio will support the medical marijuana bill, I hope they are ready to build more rehabilitation facilities when more people turn to heroin. When you ask these people who use heroin, they tell you they got started with marijuana. Now they say it is only for medicinal purposes, but everybody knows people will be using it for recreational purposes, and more people will be dying from heroin. And we will still be losing the battle. So people of Ohio, if you vote for marijuana, you will find a lot of room at the cemeteries. Perrysburg [end]
With a proposed constitutional amendment on the horizon, the House voted 71-26 on Tuesday to potentially make Ohio the 26th state to give residents legal access to medical marijuana. Some members expressed reluctance about the bill - a vote on which would have been near unfathomable just a few years ago - but after hearing of the drug's benefits and facing the prospect of a less-restrictive constitutional amendment on the November ballot, the bill was sent to the Senate. Hearings will start this morning. [continues 716 words]
COLUMBUS - In the biggest shift in state drug policy in decades, the Ohio House voted 71-26 on Tuesday to legalize marijuana for medical use only. The bill heads to the Senate, where hearings will begin today. Republican House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger voiced confidence that a bill could reach Gov. John Kasich's desk before the General Assembly recesses for the summer before Memorial Day. Kasich spokesman Joe Andrews said the governor has not committed to signing this bill, but would sign one if it "is written properly and there is a need for it." [continues 722 words]
It looks as if legalization of medical marijuana will come this year, either through pending legislation or through two possible ballot issues to amend the Ohio Constitution. But the Ohio House is larding its bill with unpopular restrictions instead of crafting a plainly worded compromise sufficient to kill the more-extreme ballot issues. Many proponents of medical marijuana insist that smoking be one of the ways it can be used. But, unlike both ballot issues, House Bill 523 would require those with a marijuana prescription to use vaporization or other devices if they wish to inhale. The bill also would prohibit home-grown marijuana, which the ballot issues would allow in limited quantities. [continues 423 words]
The Ohio House could make history Tuesday by approving legislation to legalize medical marijuana. While state lawmakers have considered marijuana legislation in the past, no proposal has ever made it out of committee and to the full House for a vote. House Bill 523 was approved by a special committee Thursday faster than you can say "tetrahydrocannabinol," the chemical in marijuana that produces the "high" when smoking or ingesting it. It also provides pain relief, soothes seizures and increases appetite. There were two minor amendments and no discussion. [continues 539 words]
Ohioans could not legally smoke medical marijuana under a revamped proposal being rolled out today by state legislators. Those with a prescription for medical marijuana would be allowed to use vaporization or other inhalant devices. But the new restriction in the legislation, targeted for a House vote Tuesday, probably sets up a public battle with supporters of proposed November ballot issues that would allow smoking. Rep. Kirk Schuring of Canton, who was set to brief his fellow GOP House members Tuesday night on the revised measure, said he hopes the special committee he chairs approves the new plan Thursday after seeing it for the first time today. After House passage, Schuring said, he is optimistic the Senate and Kasich administration will quickly approve Ohio becoming the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana. [continues 263 words]
More than a token, but something short of tokin': That's the Ohio General Assembly's task in trying to craft a bill legalizing Ohioans' use of medical marijuana. The science may or may not be there, at least not entirely. But what looks like a public consensus seems to be. And that consensus is that marijuana's chemical components can help Ohioans fighting certain illnesses or enduring, say, chemotherapy. Pending in a House committee is House Bill 523, a bipartisan medical marijuana plan sponsored by Reps. Stephen Huffman of Tipp City and Kirk Schuring of Canton, both Republicans, and Dan Ramos, a Lorain Democrat. Huffman's a physician. He earned his medical degree at the Medical College of Ohio (now the University of Toledo's College of Medicine and Life Sciences). Among those praising the House for taking up the medical marijuana issue: Sen. Kenny Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, a longtime proponent of medical marijuana. [continues 461 words]
Patients, Caregivers Say Pending Ohio Bill Has Numerous Flaws. Even if Ohio lawmakers act swiftly on pending legislation to legalize pot as medicine, Ohioans for Medical Marijuana leaders on Wednesday said they'll keep pushing to put a constitutional amendment before voters this fall. Patients and caregivers said that the bill pending in the Ohio House doesn't go far enough to protect them against losing jobs, will take too long to implement, prohibits home grow and fails to provide a concrete list of ailments that would qualify someone to get medical marijuana. [continues 474 words]
One way or another, it appears Ohioans who need it will have marijuana in their medicine cabinet. The only questions may be how soon and by whose rules. A bill introduced this week in the Legislature would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana edibles, patches, plant material and oils, but doesn't allow for the smokable form. It also prohibits patients from growing their own... If approved, many of the rules governing distribution, including who can grow it, would be left to a new state commission. Rules would be created within one year to regulate pot farms, dispensaries, laboratories, processors, and physicians. [continues 134 words]
Columbus -- Republican House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger said he wasn't stalling on consideration of medical marijuana when his chamber launched a task force and a series of public hearings on legalization earlier this year. I guess he wasn't kidding. After years of pushing from advocates, lawmakers in the Ohio House are poised to consider a Republican-sponsored bill that would allow Ohioans to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, at the direction of a licensed physician. They don't appear to be messing around, either. Rep. Kirk Schuring (R-Canton), who headed the task force and who will spearhead the select committee considering the new legislation, said he intends to move the bill rapidly through the chamber. [continues 502 words]
Please don't sign a petition to put "medical" marijuana on the ballot. You may be asked by paid people at a festival. Marijuana is not a medicine. It does not cure anything. The American Cancer Society, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Glaucoma Society and others do not support marijuana as a medicine. A synthetic form of THC called Marinol is available in pill form. Marijuana is addictive and promotes using other illicit drugs. It permanently lowers the IQ of young users and can cause destructive emotional changes. Fifteen "investors" will pay $500,000 each to be a growing site. It is not really about helping people - it's about making money. There's no such thing as "medical" marijuana. Please don't sign. Pat Leech and John Leech Newbury Township [end]
Second Group Gets Go-Ahead to Gather Signatures for Ballot. COLUMBUS - A second grassroots group got the go-ahead on Thursday to circulate petitions to put a medical marijuana question before voters in November while lawmakers released more details of their plan. The Ohio Ballot Board certified the "Medicinal Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Amendment," clearing the way for GrassrootsOhioans to collect 305,591 valid voter signatures by July 6 to qualify for the November ballot. Another group, Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, is already in the field collecting signatures to get its proposed constitutional amendment on the fall ballot. [continues 213 words]
The Ohio Ballot Board recently certified Ohioans for Medical Marijuana's petition, allowing the group to begin collecting signatures. The group, backed by the Washington D.C.-based Medical Policy Project, needs to collect 305,591 valid signatures from Ohio voters by early July in order for the proposed amendment to be added to the November ballot. If passed, the amendment would allow physicians to prescribe medical marijuana for people with qualifying conditions such as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, severe pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. The group has previously said residents would be allowed to petition the state government to add medical conditions to the list. [continues 257 words]
Ohio Ballot Board Gives Go-Ahead to Secure Names Before Election. A skeptical Ohio Ballot Board on Thursday gave supporters of a medical marijuana constitutional amendment the go-ahead to begin collecting signatures for the fall election. The board, with only three members present, voted 3-0 to approve the proposal by the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization working with Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, a state affiliate. The group must gather 305,591 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters to put the issue on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. [continues 239 words]
Measure Could Appear Before Ohio Voters in November. COLUMBUS - Backers of a medical marijuana legalization measure cleared the initial hurdle in the process of placing an issue on the statewide ballot. National group Marijuana Policy Project and its Ohio political action committee Ohioans for Medical Marijuana want to legalize marijuana use for certain medical conditions, with approval from a physician, through a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Friday certified the group's petition summary as a "fair and truthful" summary of the proposed law. DeWine rejected the group's initial petition language, and revised language included additional medical conditions that would qualify a person to use marijuana. [continues 251 words]
I read that Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has disqualified one of the proposed medical-marijuana ballot issues for the fourth time ("DeWine cites multiple flaws in rejecting marijuana issue," Dispatch article, March 19). There has to be a personal vendetta of some sort involved for him to pick apart the proposal four times. Does he not realize that there are many people who are in intense pain waiting for this amendment to become a reality. Does DeWine have no one else to answer to? Is there no one who can turn this around? Or are we at the mercy of DeWine to use his personal beliefs to overrule public opinion ? Barbara Matteson Richwood [end]
Ohio may once again debate the pros and cons of marijuana this year, but not in the same context as in 2015. This time around, many believe it will focus on the medicinal use of marijuana and that use only. Currently there is talk about two different groups that may bring the medical marijuana issue into play for Ohioans. First the legislature, both House and Senate, is taking up this issue this spring and summer. Each is asking for both citizen and business input as to the merits of medical marijuana use in Ohio, and if there are any particular concerns either of those two constituencies have if our state's elected leaders should decide to pass some form of medical-related legislation. [continues 503 words]
Attorney General Mike DeWine has, for a fourth time, rejected one group's effort to get a medical marijuana question on Ohio's ballot. DeWine said Friday he found at least 11 defects in the latest constitutional amendment proposed by the group Ohio Medical Cannabis Care LLC. He says the summary language states that persons over the age of 21 must obtain a registration card or certificate from the group to grow medical marijuana, sometimes called cannabis. But the amendment itself says all patients over the age of 21 "possess the right to grow medical cannabis." His office found the summary and full text contained other inconsistent statements. DeWine's earlier rejections were in July, October and January. [end]
Citing 11 separate flaws, Attorney General Mike DeWine today rejected the wording for a proposed medical marijuana constitutional ballot issue. It was the fourth time DeWine rebuffed the proposed Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment. The group backing the proposal, Ohio Medical Cannabis Care LLC, filed more than the minimum 1,000 signatures of registered voters needed to submit language for the proposal amendment, one of several in the works regarding medical marijuana. However, DeWine found numerous mistakes that caused him to disqualify the proposal as being a "fair and truthful" summary of the proposed amendment. [continues 133 words]
