Ohio Senate Committee Votes to Pass Medical Cannabis Legalization Bill

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.