Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Question: How would you get medical marijuana if Ohio voters pass Issue 3?
Answer: The proposed Marijuana Legalization Amendment would establish a special regimen to offer marijuana for medical use. Details of its operation are left to the Marijuana Control Commission, the regulatory body that Issue 3 would create.
But In General: If you are a patient with a “debilitating medical condition,” you may ask your doctor for certification that allows you to obtain medical marijuana.
Q: What’s a “debilitating medical condition”?
A: The amendment leaves the term for the commission to define. In the 26 states that permit medical marijuana, people can get the drug to treat illnesses such as cancer, Crohn’s disease and epilepsy. Most states also use an umbrella term of “chronic pain” for disorders not specifically listed.
The Ohio amendment sets limits on medical certification, to guard against the creation of pot-doctor mills like those that proliferated in California. First, a patient must have a “bona fide” relationship with a doctor. The doctor must determine the potential benefit of medical marijuana offsets the risk, and the doctor must explain that tradeoff to the patient.
A minor with a qualifying illness must have the consent of a parent or guardian to obtain the doctor’s certification and medical marijuana.
The state of Ohio must regulate doctors and medical marijuana the way it regulates their prescribing of any other drug. The state can’t go after a doctor for talking about medical marijuana with patients or for legally issuing certifications.
Q: Where to buy it?
A: The amendment envisions not-for-profit dispensaries of medical marijuana, which would be separate operations from the for-profit retail stores offering marijuana for recreational use. The commission would write regulations on how many dispensaries would open and where.
From its own budget, the commission “may” fund dispensaries’ “reasonable and necessary operating costs,” and it may establish a program for low-income patients to get low-cost medical marijuana. Details on those features are yet to come.
Medical marijuana would have to come from the 10 farms that would grow the commercial crop, tested by a licensed laboratory and processed by a licensed production facility. This language concerns patient organizations such as Ohio Families CANN, a group of parents with sick children pushing for access to medical marijuana.
Officials with Ohio Families CANN have told me they’re worried that the farms won’t be able to produce enough medicine and growers would lean more toward satisfying the recreational market. One farm owner, Dr. Suresh Gupta of Dayton, has said his grow site in Licking County will be dedicated to medical-marijuana strains. And licensed home growers could give away their excess marijuana to medical patients.
Q: Who pays?
A: Your use of medical marijuana comes out of your own pocket. Issue 3 says you can’t bill your health insurer, Medicaid or Medicare for the costs of medical marijuana.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: How Will You Get Medical Marijuana In Ohio?
Author: Anne Saker
Contact: Contact Author
Photo Credit: Youtube
Website: Cincinnati
Answer: The proposed Marijuana Legalization Amendment would establish a special regimen to offer marijuana for medical use. Details of its operation are left to the Marijuana Control Commission, the regulatory body that Issue 3 would create.
But In General: If you are a patient with a “debilitating medical condition,” you may ask your doctor for certification that allows you to obtain medical marijuana.
Q: What’s a “debilitating medical condition”?
A: The amendment leaves the term for the commission to define. In the 26 states that permit medical marijuana, people can get the drug to treat illnesses such as cancer, Crohn’s disease and epilepsy. Most states also use an umbrella term of “chronic pain” for disorders not specifically listed.
The Ohio amendment sets limits on medical certification, to guard against the creation of pot-doctor mills like those that proliferated in California. First, a patient must have a “bona fide” relationship with a doctor. The doctor must determine the potential benefit of medical marijuana offsets the risk, and the doctor must explain that tradeoff to the patient.
A minor with a qualifying illness must have the consent of a parent or guardian to obtain the doctor’s certification and medical marijuana.
The state of Ohio must regulate doctors and medical marijuana the way it regulates their prescribing of any other drug. The state can’t go after a doctor for talking about medical marijuana with patients or for legally issuing certifications.
Q: Where to buy it?
A: The amendment envisions not-for-profit dispensaries of medical marijuana, which would be separate operations from the for-profit retail stores offering marijuana for recreational use. The commission would write regulations on how many dispensaries would open and where.
From its own budget, the commission “may” fund dispensaries’ “reasonable and necessary operating costs,” and it may establish a program for low-income patients to get low-cost medical marijuana. Details on those features are yet to come.
Medical marijuana would have to come from the 10 farms that would grow the commercial crop, tested by a licensed laboratory and processed by a licensed production facility. This language concerns patient organizations such as Ohio Families CANN, a group of parents with sick children pushing for access to medical marijuana.
Officials with Ohio Families CANN have told me they’re worried that the farms won’t be able to produce enough medicine and growers would lean more toward satisfying the recreational market. One farm owner, Dr. Suresh Gupta of Dayton, has said his grow site in Licking County will be dedicated to medical-marijuana strains. And licensed home growers could give away their excess marijuana to medical patients.
Q: Who pays?
A: Your use of medical marijuana comes out of your own pocket. Issue 3 says you can’t bill your health insurer, Medicaid or Medicare for the costs of medical marijuana.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: How Will You Get Medical Marijuana In Ohio?
Author: Anne Saker
Contact: Contact Author
Photo Credit: Youtube
Website: Cincinnati
