Ohio lawmakers to introduce, fast-track medical marijuana bill

State lawmakers said Wednesday they will introduce a medical marijuana bill this week, but many of the details won’t be known until months after it has passed the General Assembly.

Legislative leaders said at a Wednesday press conference they plan to fast-track the bill to Gov. John Kasich before they leave town in June, ahead of a proposed ballot measure in November. If passed by summer, Ohioans could buy and use marijuana by early 2018.

Patients would not be allowed to grow their own marijuana, and Ohio-licensed physicians would be the only medical professionals allowed to recommend marijuana to patients.

Rep. Kirk Schuring, a Canton Republican, said details, such as who could grow and sell marijuana, would not be decided in the bill. Instead, the bill leaves those decisions to a new nine-member commission appointed by the governor under the Ohio Department of Health.

Schuring said patients would be able to obtain marijuana within two years of the bill’s passage, and likely sooner.

Here’s what he said is in the bill:

• The Marijuana Control Commission would have one year to create rules for the program.
• Edibles, patches, plant material, and oils will be allowed.
• Dispensaries would operate similar to Ohio’s liquor control system — limited by population and communities could choose to deny them.
• There’s no list of qualifying medical conditions, but doctors would have to report every 90 days what conditions they have recommended marijuana for, what forms of marijuana they recommended, and why it was preferable to another medicine.
• It provides a “safe harbor” for financial institutions that do business with marijuana businesses.
• It explicitly allows employers to maintain drug-free workplaces and does not require employers to make accommodations for patients using medical marijuana.
• It urges the U.S. Attorney General and Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance instead of Schedule I, which supporters say will encourage more research.

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