Pot passes through Senate, sent to Kasich

Three votes made all the difference in the Ohio Senate yesterday as the bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Ohio passed 18-15, and was sent to Governor John Kasich’s desk.

The bill would only allow pot to be prescribed for a few conditions, including severe epilepsy, cancer, PTSD, and “pain that is chronic, severe and intractable.” Furthermore, Ohioans would not be allowed to smoke pot, only to consume it in vaporized or edible form.

Some say the bill is too strict, while Republican leaders in the legislature say it is too lax.

The bill passes ahead of a proposed amendment to the state constitution put forth by national medical marijuana advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project.

Should the proposal make it onto the November ballot, Ohioans will have the opportunity to override the new law via the constitutional amendment and allow medical marijuana patients to smoke and grow the plant in their homes.

5/25/16: Historic pot bill gets vote today, but it might not pass

The historic bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Ohio passed through a Senate committee 7-5 this morning, meaning the full Senate could vote on the bill this afternoon, getting it one big step closer Governor Kasich’s desk.

But will it pass?

Not everyone seems to think so. Sources at the Statehouse say that 17 votes are needed to pass the bill, but only about 14 senators have pledged support.

If the bill doesn’t pass, Ohioans would still have an opportunity to vote on medical marijuana rules this November due to several proposed constitutional amendments, including one by national advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project.

Check back this afternoon for the latest breaking news on this historic legislation!

5/11/16: Overwhelming majority of Ohioans support prescription pot

According to a new poll put out by Quinnipiac University, Ohioans have become overwhelmingly chill with the idea of medical marijuana.

The poll says that a massive 90% of Ohioans favor legalization of medical marijuana, while only 9% oppose it.

A divide still exists between those who think recreational use is OK, but 52 percent of Ohioans support it, while 45 percent oppose it.

5/10/16: Medical pot on the fast track: bill passes through Ohio house

BREAKING UPDATE: The Ohio House has reportedly voted to legalize medical marijuana 70-25. The bill now moves to the Senate.

Ohio legislators are putting medical marijuana on the fast track to legalization.

The medical marijuana bill introduced in the Ohio legislature only a month ago was unanimously voted through a special committee, and now it’s going to the floor of the Ohio House.

Included in House Bill 523 are tight regulations on the drug (see below), with the only permissible forms of consumption being edibles and vaping.

Bill sponsor Stephen Huffman (R-Tipp City) says the bill could be passed as early as the end of May.

However, Ohio voters will have the final say on the issue.

Because the proposed initiatives headed to the November ballot are constitutional amendments, they would supercede HB 523 if any of them passed.

5/4/16: Tight regulations in latest draft of medical pot law

After months of deliberation on how Ohio should proceed with legalizing medical marijuana, a new draft of House Bill 523 was released yesterday detailing new regulations on the drug.

One of the biggest takeaways is that smoking would not be allowed, but vaping would be. Edibles would be allowed, but not in a form considered “attractive to children.”

The bill also specifies 20 conditions that would permit a pot prescription, including cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, sickle-cell anemia, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and “pain that is chronic, severe and intractable.”

I feel the headaches coming on already.

Furthermore, radio and TV ads for pot would be prohibited, growing your own pot would be prohibited and your employer could still fire you for using pot, even you’re using it to treat a legitimate medical concern (see below).

The bill is at odds with ballot proposals with looser regulations, the most successful of which is a proposed constitutional amendment put forth by national medical marijuana advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project.

4/15/16: Reality check: even if it’s legalized, employers still allowed to fire medical pot users

In the battle between lawmakers and advocacy groups to legalize medical marijuana, either proposal would not change one huge factor: your employer can still fire you for using medical pot, even if it’s legalized under either plan.

Maaan, that is profoundly heavy, dude.

The proposed legislation that Ohio lawmakers say could be passed as early as this summer, Ohio House Bill 523, says, “A person who is discharged from employment because of that person’s use of medical marijuana shall be considered to have been discharged for just cause.”

The proposed constitutional amendment put forth by the Marijuana Policy Project would function the same way. Even if you’re using pot to alleviate symptoms of a debilitating illness, you can still get fired or refused to be hired for it.

Passage of House Bill 523 through the Ohio legislature before the November ballot might curtail the Marijuana Policy Project’s efforts to legalize pot on their terms, but MPP says they will still try to get their constitutional amendment on the ballot regardless of where HB 523 ends up.

4/13/16: Lawmakers detail ‘joint effort’ to legalize medical pot

The Ohio House and Senate have come together in a literal joint effort to pass legislation to legalize medical marijuana.

Though some ballot initiatives might be on their way to the voting booth (see below), lawmakers say legalizing pot through legislation would allow for greater regulation of the drug, and would avoid the issue being engraved into the state constitution.

The ballot initiative that’s most likely to get on the ballot is a proposed constitutional amendment backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization with an experienced campaign staff and a good track record of passing medical marijuana measures in other states.

Current house and senate debates center around the details of the issue, such as whether to allow prescription of marijuana in smokable form, and whether or not to allow homegrown pot.

Both houses stress the importance of the word medical, and insist that the word should not be used as a marketing tool, but as a description of the drug’s legitimate medical uses.

It looks like the legalization of medical pot in Ohio is inevitable. The real battle will arise between the legislators and the advocacy groups.

4/1/16: Group to collect signatures to get pot initiative on ballot

National medical marijuana advocacy group The Marijuana Policy had ballot language approved earlier this week by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, and now that the language has also been approved by the Ohio Ballot Board, they can start collecting signatures.

At least 305,591 Ohioans need to sign the proposal to reach the Nov. 8 general-election ballot.

However, lawmakers are wary about the proposal because they say the restrictions it enacts are not strict enough.

State lawmakers say they would rather legalize medical marijuana through legislation, because that would allow them more control over regulation of the drug.

Two other pot advocacy groups have submitted ballot proposals to DeWine, but the initial wording of both proposals was rejected.

3/29/16: UPDATE: DeWine approves language for medical pot ballot initiative

Yesterday Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine approved ballot language that would legalize medical marijuana via an amendment to the state constitution submitted by national pot advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project.

The next step for the ballot proposal is to be approved by the Ohio Ballot Board within 10 days, and then the sponsors would have to collect 500,000 signatures from Ohio voters.

Under the new proposal, 15 Ohioans can apply to be large-scale growers for a $500,000 fee, and the proposal allows for unlimited small-scale growers for a lesser fee.

The measure would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana cards to people with severe illnesses like cancer and AIDS.

It’s currently unclear whether we will see an uptick in the number of Ohioans experiencing “headaches,” though it’s almost certain we will see an increase in sales of Flaming Hot Cheetos.

Medical marijuana might also be legalized via a bill passed through the State legislature, which some lawmakers say would allow for greater regulation of the drug.

3/28/16: Bills, ballots and bud: Medical pot is coming to Ohio

Ohio got its first serious exposure to the pot legalization debate last year when Issue 3 was on the November ballot–a constitutional amendment proposed by marijuana advocacy group ResponsibleOhio that would have legalized marijuana for medicinal and recreational use.

Last year’s agenda may have been a bit too ambitious.

Issue 3 was ultimately defeated by voters who thought the measure went too far. After all, no state has legalized recreational pot without legalizing medical pot first. Plus, Issue 3 would have written the names of powerful investors right into the state constitution, creating a monopoly on the lucrative marijuana industry for the lucky sponsors of the measure.

But even though Issue 3 didn’t pass, a recent poll showed that about 73 percent of Ohio voters favor medical marijuana legalization, giving lawmakers good reason to debate the issue.

Already this year three separate groups have sent proposals to Attorney General Mike DeWine with the hopes of getting them on the ballot (DeWine rejected the initial language of all three), and the Ohio House met several times this year in a special Medical Marijuana Task Force to discuss legalization through passage of a law, rather than a voter-initiated ballot initiative.

As of now, it looks like legislation might hit the House floor as early as this July.

Members of the 15-member committee say that legislation is the best way to legalize pot because it would allow for more rigorous regulations on the growth and sale of the drug, whereas the regulations of a ballot initiative might be too lax.

With new science showing that marijuana can be an extremely effective treatment for debilitating conditions like severe epilepsy and PTSD, lawmakers are trying to find the best and safest way to legalize pot.

Whether it will be through a ballot initiative or a bill is yet to be seen, but it’s starting to look like bud will almost certainly be legalized in Ohio within the next few years.

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