Medical marijuana is now legal in Ohio, but patients won’t be able to legally buy it here for at least a year, maybe two.
Until then, Ohio’s new medical marijuana law gives patients an “affirmative defense” against a drug charge, if they have a doctor’s note and meet other criteria. But patients haven’t had much luck obtaining such notes ahead of the law’s effective date today, another example to add to the law’s long list of unknowns.
Also on that list: How many growers and dispensaries will be allowed? What will doctors have to do in order to recommend medical marijuana?
So although today has been on the calendars of many Ohio advocates, it’s a largely symbolic date that most consider the starting line in what could be a complicated path to a working medical marijuana program.
Starting now, patients who would qualify for the program have an “affirmative defense” against prosecution for possessing marijuana and paraphernalia that would be legal under the law, if a doctor signs off.
The patient’s physician must certify in writing that a bona fide relationship exists, the patient has one of about 20 qualifying conditions and that they have discussed the benefits and risks to using medical marijuana.
Medical marijuana is now legal in Ohio, but it could be two years before the program is operational.
Nicole Scholten of Cincinnati, whose 12-year-old daughter Lucy has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, said the majority of patients she knows have not had success obtaining an affirmative defense note. Scholten is hopeful Lucy’s doctors and other health care professionals will support medical marijuana use but said more education is needed.
“I encourage patients to be cautious because the affirmative defense is really a theory,” Scholten said. “It’s not a tested theory and it’s a theory no one wants to test. Patients should not think all is accepted and well.”
The affirmative defense only protects patients using one of the forms described in the law: Marijuana-infused edibles, tinctures, oils, patches and plant material. The law prohibits smoking marijuana and allows vaping, but the final list of approved forms and methods will be decided by the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy.
Ohio’s new medical marijuana law allows certain marijuana products to be sold. Here are a few such products currently sold in Colorado.
The law is silent on where patients are supposed to get their marijuana and doesn’t allow people to grow their own. Bringing marijuana into Ohio from a legal state would violate federal law.
And the affirmative defense is just that, a defense in court that would come into play after arrest. It won’t protect patients from being fired for marijuana use — employers’ right to do so is explicitly protected in the law.
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