Ohio took a big step forward Tuesday to becoming the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana.
The Ohio House on Tuesday approved a bill legalizing marijuana use for people with qualifying medical conditions with a doctor’s recommendation. House Bill 523 passed in a 71-26 vote and now heads to the Senate.
Rep. Stephen Huffman, the bill’s sponsor and an emergency room physician, recited part of the Hippocratic Oath on the House floor as he urged colleagues to vote “yes.”
“I am absolutely convinced that there is therapeutic value in medical marijuana,” Huffman, a Tipp City Republican, said.
He said the bill reflects patients’ needs and desires of all Ohioans and will be a model for other states to follow.
What would the bill do?
- Patients with one of about 20 qualifying medical conditions could buy and use marijuana if their Ohio-licensed physician recommends it.
- The doctor would have to recommend a type of marijuana and method of consumption — smoking would not be allowed.
- A nine-member medical marijuana commission would write rules and regulations for the program within two years of the bill becoming law.
- The state would issue licenses for growing, testing, processing, and selling marijuana. Application fees and other details would be decided by the commission.
- Caregivers and parents who are patients would not be arrested or lose their children for possessing or using marijuana.
- Employers could still maintain drug-free workplace policies, and patients fired for marijuana use would be ineligible for unemployment compensation.
- Municipalities can decide to ban marijuana businesses.
- The legislature will urge the federal government to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug, which some say will increase medical research on the plant.
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