Ohio Senate Committee Votes to Pass Medical Cannabis Legalization Bill
Ohio’s Senate’s State and Local Government Committee has given approval to House Bill 523, a proposal to legalize the medical use of cannabis medicines. The measure was recently passed by the full House of Representatives with a 71 to 26 vote.
Under the proposed law, the possession, use and retail distribution of cannabis and cannabis products legal for those who receive a recommendation from a physician, although smoking cannabis would remain prohibited (vaporizing would be allowed, as would consumption through edibles, tinctures and other methods such as topicals).
Unfortunately the Senate amended the bill so that a patient’s pain must be “chronic, severe AND intractable” to qualify under a general pain provision, a move that medical cannabis advocates believe will dis-include thousands of patients who have chronic and severe pain, but not “intractable” pain.
The Senate’s version of the bill also shifts control of the medical cannabis market from a marijuana control commission to a pair of state-sanctioned boards.
The full text of the measure – introduced by Republican State Representative Stephen Huffman – can be found by clicking here.
Scott Rellim
Useless. Why even bother?