When the subject of legalizing marijuana comes up, there seems to be plenty of mixed emotions, clashing of opinion and even ambivalence of tolerance in our society. We generally disdain excessive use of alcohol and nicotine as anodynes - painkilling drugs or medicines - but a rigid line is drawn between hedonistic marijuana use and an almost Calvinistic condemnation of the drug.

Currently, we understand that 25 states, including Ohio, allow the use of marijuana for the relief of chronic pain, and just four states for "recreational" escape.

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COLUMBUS (AP) - Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a bill Wednesday legalizing medical marijuana in Ohio, though patients shouldn't expect to get it from dispensaries here anytime soon.

The bill lays out a number of steps that must happen first to set up the state's medical marijuana program, which is expected to be fully operational in about two years. The law would allow patients to use marijuana in vapor form for certain chronic health conditions, but bar them from smoking it or growing it at home.

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COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio became the latest state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana after Republican Gov. John Kasich signed legislation Wednesday.

The law allows people to use the drug in vapor form for certain chronic health conditions, while barring patients from smoking marijuana or growing it at home.

Kasich's signature makes Ohio the 25th state to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program, according to a count by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ohio's bill drew both support and opposition from Republicans and Democrats when it cleared the legislature late last month. Lawmakers had moved quickly on the measure as they looked to offset support for a proposed fall ballot issue. The group behind the ballot effort has since dropped its plan and called the legislation "a step forward."

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Ohio became the latest state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana after Republican Gov. John Kasich signed legislation Wednesday.

The law allows people to use the drug in vapor form for certain chronic health conditions, while barring patients from smoking marijuana or growing it at home.

Kasich's signature makes Ohio the 25th state to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program, according to a count by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Ohio's bill drew both support and opposition from Republicans and Democrats when it cleared the legislature late last month. Lawmakers had moved quickly on the measure as they looked to offset support for a proposed fall ballot issue. The group behind the ballot effort has since dropped its plan and called the legislation "a step forward."

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Doctors against medical marijuana should stop pretending present pharmaceuticals are any less dangerous.

The shear ignorance and bias in many of the articles written against the legalization of medical marijuana - many of them by doctors no less - is astounding and shameful. They speak as if we don't already have medicines derived from opium, from which heroin, morphine, oxycodone and the like are derived, or the coca plant that produces cocaine (which led to the discovery of lidocaine, etc.), as well as dozens of other highly toxic and/or addictive herbs.

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Lawmakers weren't bluffing when they pledged they would consider medical marijuana after an outside group's effort to legalize pot failed last November.

Much of that push, of course, came from polls suggesting Ohioans favor medical marijuana, and from concerns that outsiders would again try for a more liberal marijuana law by amending the state constitution.

Not only did lawmakers carefully study the issue, they passed a bill that will become law if Gov. John Kasich signs it.

Kasich should. House Bill 523, while not perfect, is a conservative approach to allow those with legitimate medical conditions to have access to a drug that can benefit them when others don't.

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Lawmakers weren't bluffing when they pledged they would consider medical marijuana after an outside group's effort to legalize pot failed last November.

Much of that push, of course, came from polls suggesting Ohioans favor medical marijuana, and from concerns that outsiders would again try for a more liberal marijuana law by amending the state constitution.

Not only did lawmakers carefully study the issue, they passed a bill that will become law if Gov. John Kasich signs it.

Kasich should. House Bill 523, while not perfect, is a conservative approach to allow those with legitimate medical conditions to have access to a drug that can benefit them when others don't. The legislation won't appease all. Some people still believe marijuana should not be legalized in any shape or form.

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I respond to the Tuesday letter "Legislators answered call with marijuana bill" from Aaron Neumann, who congratulated the legislature for passing medical-marijuana legislation rather than allowing a ballot initiative to create a law without the legislature's input or approval.

However, Neumann was critical of the bill's burdensome regulations, restrictions and red tape. He should have mentioned that one can't actually possess, grow or ingest the unprocessed plant that is the law's namesake, even with a prescription. Marijuana the plant will remain just as illegal as it was before the bill is passed.

Ohio's medical-marijuana law is not concerned with allowing suffering people access to marijuana but about stopping ballot initiatives - just as last year's State Issue 2 was about stopping marijuana legalization.

William Bruns

Blacklick

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NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio - Nicholas DiMarco was 18 when he died from a dose or heroin laced with fentanyl.

He left behind a grief-stricken father tormented by questions.

"The biggest mistake that I made I looked at my son and I thought of it as a rational, normal person," Fred DiMarco said. "I was like, well he's going to quit. If he doesn't quit, he's going to go to prison for three years. Who would take that risk? He's going to quit. It's killing people. Who would take something that's going to kill them?"

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Even if Ohio Gov. John Kasich signs into law a bill legalizing medical marijuana, some patients could be stopped from treatment by their employers.

The bill passed by the state legislature last month would allow individuals to use, but not smoke, marijuana with a physician's permission. However, the bill also allows employers to keep drug-free workplace policies. That means as long as employers express the policy upfront, they have the right to fire, or choose not to hire, an individual based on marijuana use, even if that employee has permission to use the drug.

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I am writing a letter on medical marijuana. Many people don't like the idea of it being legalized, but if we could just get it legalized to where only doctors could prescribe it to someone instead of legalizing all of it, I think it would be OK and beneficial to many.

For example, a 9-year-old girl who had T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia went through many radiation treatments, doctors wanted to do chemotherapy and even a bone marrow transplant but her parents said no. In July 2012 her lymphoblast count was 51 percent; by August 2012 it was 0 percent! This all happened in just one week after she was given the cannabis oil treatment.

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A group Saturday ended its effort to put a medical marijuana issue on Ohio's general election ballot.

The Ohioans for Medical Marijuana announced that organizers decided with "a heavy heart" to halt collection of signatures to get on the November ballot in the aftermath of passage this past week by state lawmakers of a medical marijuana legalization bill.

The proposal would bar patients from smoking marijuana or growing it at home, but it would allow its use in vapor form for certain chronic health conditions. It still requires Gov. John Kasich's signature.

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ZANESVILLE - From 2008 to 2014, 32,021 marijuana seizures in Muskingum County were reported to the Ohio Attorney General's Office, putting it at number one in the state.

In 2010 alone, agencies in the county reported more than 25,000 seizures, which was nearly 25 percent of all marijuana seizures reported in the state 105,121. According to the data, Pike County and Franklin County were also top counties for marijuana seizures, and during the same time period, Perry County had 12,290 seizures reported.

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CINCINNATI - A group Saturday ended its effort to put a medical marijuana issue on Ohio's general election ballot.

The Ohioans for Medical Marijuana announced that organizers decided with "a heavy heart" to halt collection of signatures to get on the November ballot in the aftermath of passage last week by state lawmakers of a medical marijuana legalization bill.

The proposal would bar patients from smoking marijuana or growing it at home, but it would allow its use in vapor form for certain chronic health conditions. It still requires Gov. John Kasich's signature.

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COLUMBUS - A group eyeing a November ballot issue to legalize medical marijuana has suspended its signature-gathering efforts, days after lawmakers finalized legislation to create a state-regulated system for providing the drug to patients suffering certain conditions.

Brandon Lynaugh, campaign manager for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, said in a released statement Saturday morning that the difficulties in raising the needed funds to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot and run a successful campaign were difficult propositions, given the legislature's action and Gov. John Kasich's expected signature.

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A medical marijuana legalization bill has been sent to Ohio Gov. John Kasich in an effort by state lawmakers to offset support for a proposed fall ballot measure.

The measure cleared the Ohio Senate by just three votes, and the House followed by OK'ing Senate changes 67-28.

The proposal, which Kasich has not committed to signing, would bar patients from smoking marijuana or growing it at home, but it would allow its use in vapor form for certain chronic health conditions.

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Marijuana plants could be growing legally in Ohio soil in a year, predicts state Sen. Dave Burke, an architect of Ohio's newly minted medical marijuana law.

"As soon as 16 months, you would have products tested and available," the Marysville Republican said.

House Bill 523, the medical marijuana law, completed a rocky journey through the legislature Wednesday. It is now headed to Gov. John Kasich.

Kasich has not indicated whether he will sign the bill into law. He also could veto it or allow it to take effect without his signature.

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Proposal Scrapped Over Concerns About Burden on the State.

COLUMBUS (AP) - A legislative proposal to regulate medical marijuana through Ohio's pharmacy board was scrapped Tuesday over concerns the rare setup nationally would create an undue burden on the state.

Republican Sen. David Burke, a Marysville pharmacist behind the idea, called the arrangement the most responsible way to oversee marijuana as medicine. He said changes introduced in the Senate Government Oversight Committee on Tuesday were needed to strike a workable compromise.

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Over the years, people have been taught that marijuana was an evil drug. This drug is so evil that approximately 750,000 people are arrested every year and some of them convicted and fined for its use in the United States. So evil that every 42 seconds someone gets arrested for it.

America is so convinced of marijuana's evils, that we are willing to root out this drug wherever it is used, bought, and sold, right?

Wrong.

in our nation's capital, before legalization, 91 percent of arrested marijuana dealers were African-American. What about the other 9 percent? Well, before Washington voters legalized its use, only 4 percent of Washington, D.C.'s arrested marijuana dealers were Caucasian.

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The House just passed a medical marijuana measure and an initiative will likely be on the ballot in November. While I believe marijuana should be legalized, this initiative and the legislation being considered by the Senate should be rejected since people who don't use marijuana will be forced to pay taxes to support a state commission the law creates. We already have too many bureaucrats in Columbus to support. Too often politicians create high-paying jobs for their friends, at taxpayers' expense, by creating new state agencies when we urgently need to prune the bloated state government.

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