Robert Celt
New Member
State lawmakers will begin hearings on a new medical marijuana bill on Tuesday.
The House Select Committee on Medical Marijuana plans to meet three times a week to vet and revise House Bill 523. The bill would establish a program allowing patients to buy and use marijuana to treat medical conditions with the recommendation of a licensed Ohio physician.
Who's on the committee?
Rep. Kirk Schuring, a Canton Republican who led the House medicinal marijuana task force, will also chair the committee. Lawmakers hope to have the bill to Gov. John Kasich by June.
What's in the bill?
The bill leaves many of the regulations up to a nine-member commission appointed by the governor, House, and Senate.
The commission, under the Ohio Department of Health, would come up for rules regarding:
Meanwhile, two groups are collecting signatures to legalize medical marijuana at the ballot box.
Don Wirtshafter, of Grassroots Ohioans, called the bill a "timid first step." Grassroots Ohioans' amendment would allow people to use marijuana to treat medical conditions, but would not require a physician's recommendation or prescription. The amendment would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp.
"Our initiative is necessary because it will force the legislature to look at this more realistically in view of the modern science on this subject," Wirtshafter said Thursday.
Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, backed by national group Marijuana Policy Project, is proposing a regulated system in its constitutional amendment. Mason Tvert, spokesman for Marijuana Policy Project, said the House bill's reporting requirements would have a chilling effect on physicians and help few patients.
"That's not something we require of physicians for many other medications and medical marijuana is objectively far less harmful and has far less potential for abuse than prescription drugs," Tvert said.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Ohio Medical Marijuana Hearings Begin Tuesday
Author: Jackie Borchardt
Contact: Cleveland.com
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Cleveland.com
The House Select Committee on Medical Marijuana plans to meet three times a week to vet and revise House Bill 523. The bill would establish a program allowing patients to buy and use marijuana to treat medical conditions with the recommendation of a licensed Ohio physician.
Who's on the committee?
Rep. Kirk Schuring, a Canton Republican who led the House medicinal marijuana task force, will also chair the committee. Lawmakers hope to have the bill to Gov. John Kasich by June.
- Rep. Steve Huffman, a Tipp City Republican
- Rep. Tim Brown, a Bowling Green Republican
- Rep. Marlene Anielski, a Walton Hills Republican
- Rep. Ryan Smith, a Bidwell Republican
- Rep. Lou Terhar, a Cincinnati Republican
- Rep. Dan Ramos, a Lorain Democrat
- Rep. Nicholas Celebrezze, a Parma Democrat
- Rep. Christie Bryan Kuhns, a Cincinnati Democrat
What's in the bill?
- People will not be allowed to grow marijuana at home.
- Dispensaries and growing, testing, and processing facilities could not be located within 500 feet of a school, church, public library, public playground or public park.
- Marijuana would be tracked from seed to sale, with patient and physician information entered into a database similar to other controlled substances.
- Only Ohio-licensed doctors who have registered with the state to recommend marijuana could do so, and only after examining the patient and his or her medical history.
- Doctor recommendations would specify an amount and type of marijuana to patients. The doctor's recommendation would expire after 90 days, and patients would have to visit their doctors to renew the recommendations.
- Businesses could still enforce drug-free workplace policies, and financial institutions that serve marijuana businesses would not face state penalties.
- Lawmakers would later determine an appropriate tax on medical marijuana. Marijuana businesses would have to pay all other business taxes.
- The program must be operational no later than two years after the bill becomes law.
The bill leaves many of the regulations up to a nine-member commission appointed by the governor, House, and Senate.
The commission, under the Ohio Department of Health, would come up for rules regarding:
- The requirements to apply for a license to grow, test, process, or dispense marijuana and marijuana products.
- Whether people could smoke marijuana for medical purposes and what forms it could be sold in.
- How marijuana products would be labeled and packaged
Meanwhile, two groups are collecting signatures to legalize medical marijuana at the ballot box.
Don Wirtshafter, of Grassroots Ohioans, called the bill a "timid first step." Grassroots Ohioans' amendment would allow people to use marijuana to treat medical conditions, but would not require a physician's recommendation or prescription. The amendment would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp.
"Our initiative is necessary because it will force the legislature to look at this more realistically in view of the modern science on this subject," Wirtshafter said Thursday.
Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, backed by national group Marijuana Policy Project, is proposing a regulated system in its constitutional amendment. Mason Tvert, spokesman for Marijuana Policy Project, said the House bill's reporting requirements would have a chilling effect on physicians and help few patients.
"That's not something we require of physicians for many other medications and medical marijuana is objectively far less harmful and has far less potential for abuse than prescription drugs," Tvert said.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Ohio Medical Marijuana Hearings Begin Tuesday
Author: Jackie Borchardt
Contact: Cleveland.com
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Cleveland.com