Charles A. Peterson

GRANVILLE – Medical marijuana is allowed in Granville, and has been since January 1996. At least it appears so, according to the Codified Ordinances of Granville.

However, the village administrator, law director and two Granville Village Council members remember nothing about it at the time that measure would have been approved, and possession or sale of marijuana, even in small amounts, remains illegal in Ohio as a whole.

Tucked away in "Part Five: General Offenses Code," Granville's code states under "513.03 Drug Abuse; Controlled Substance Possession or Use" that the ordinance does not apply to:

• "Any person who obtained the controlled substance pursuant to a lawful prescription issued by a licensed health professional authorized to prescribe drugs."

Section 513.03(d) also states:

• "It is an affirmative defense to a charge of possessing marihuana (Sic) under this section that the offender, pursuant to the prior written recommendation of a licensed physician, possessed the marihuana solely for medicinal purposes."

Current Village Law Director Michael King said Tuesday he was not aware of the presence or origin of the language. But he concluded after comparing the Ohio Revised Code with the Granville ordinance that state law supersedes the Granville ordinance.

The Granville ordinance permits possession of marijuana under the "written recommendation of a licensed physician," King said, while state law allows for possession of controlled substances with a "lawful prescription." However, marijuana is not one of those controlled substances in the eyes of the state, he said.

"By allowing something in the local code that the state code prohibits, that creates a conflict and the state code prevails," he said.

"And while a court has not given an opinion on this, it is my opinion the Granville code provision would be in conflict with the Ohio Revised Code and would not be effective," he said.

King said that while he has been law director and assistant law director, "we have never had a case where this was used as a defense or brought up as a possible defense. It's an area of Granville code that has never been tested."

The language was discovered by Granville resident Dennis Cauchon, a former USA Today reporter, who said he was writing a freelance article a year ago and conducted interviews on the history of marijuana laws in Ohio. He said the story has not been published.

Cauchon said he noticed the 1996 Ohio General Assembly had approved marijuana for medical use. According to the National Drug Strategy Network, Ohio briefly made medical use a defense for having marijuana as part of a 1,000-page bill, then worked to repeal the apparent oversight the next year.

"I typed the language into Google. I searched various municipal codes. Granville had it," Cauchon said.

He said he checked the codes of several other college towns, including Oxford (Miami University), Athens (Ohio University) and Columbus (Ohio State University), and did not find it there.

"I just searched the codes for various municipalities," he said, emphasizing it was not a comprehensive search. "The only one I found it in was Granville."

Section 513.03(d) has a notation at the end stating it was passed by the council on May 1, 1996.

Cauchon speculates Granville incorporated all state code changes in 1996, and through an oversight or error left it in the next year after the legislature passed a bill repealing medical marijuana use. He also did not rule out that it was left in on purpose.

Both Cauchon and current Village Clerk Mollie Prasher said they have read several pages of council meeting minutes and found no indication the matter was discussed.

"I don't remember seeing medical marijuana there," Cauchon said.

Prasher could only find Ordinance No. 1-96 from that year that amended Sections 513.03 (c)(2) and 513.12(f)(1) and repealing Section 513.99 stating that "If the drug involved is marijuana, drug abuse is a misdemeanor of the third degree." A second section in that ordinance makes possession of drug paraphernalia illegal.

Prasher said the village code is updated semiannually with changes from the state legislature, and was done annually at one point, speculating that the medical marijuana allowance came in that way.

Cauchon is publishing a guest opinion in The Granville Sentinel this week seeking public sentiment about marijuana legalization issues. He established a website, www.marijuana43023.org, that asks the public two questions: one, whether it's best to ask Granville voters to consider medical marijuana, further decriminalization, full legalization or making marijuana law enforcement's lowest priority; and two, whether the ballot measure should be an ordinance or a nonbinding resolution.

Former Village Law Director Rufus Hearst, still a Granville resident, said he does not recall the medical marijuana issue surfacing with the council, but added, "Eighteen years is a long time."

Doug Plunkett, village manager through mid-1997, doesn't remember the issue, either.

"I don't remember it as being controversial enough to attract my attention," Plunkett said, also noting the village subscribed to an annual legislative update service. "They may well have just included it and we paid little attention to it. I don't recall any controversy at all."

Maxine Montgomery and Matt McGowan, both council members at the time, do not remember it as an issue either.

Cauchon noted about the ordinance: "It provides a defense for the user, but it doesn't provide a mechanism for the user to get the medical marijuana."

More inside

Granville resident Dennis Cauchon has established a website asking residents whether the community should take the lead in legalization of marijuana. See guest opinion, Page 4A.

More online

To find the ordinance language regarding medical marijuana, go to the Village of Granville website at www.granville.oh.us, click on Village Information in the top rail, go down to Village Charter and Code and follow the links. It can be found under Chapter 513 — Drug Abuse Control.