​The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment is “a beautifully, effectively balanced and very reasonable amendment for medical cannabis,” according to Stephen Downing, former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, who endorsed OMCA at a press conference in Columbus, Ohio, on March 29.

A proposed citizen-initiatied amendment to the Ohio Constitution, the measure’s language is focused on extending to patients eight rights based on the Bill of Rights within the Ohio Constitution. The amendment also establishes an Ohio Commission of Cannabis Control to support, uphold and defend those rights, as well as to regulate medical marijuana in the state.

Both the Ohio Attorney General and the Ohio Ballot Board in January certified OMCA as eligible for collection of the 385,000-plus signatures needed to quality for November’s general election ballot.