Medical Marijuana

Ohio senators plan to travel across the state to learn more about medical marijuana.

(Jim Mone/Associated Press)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State senators plan to announce Tuesday morning they will travel the state to learn more about how Ohio could legalize marijuana for medical use.

Leading the Senate's effort are Sens. Kenny Yuko and Dave Burke. Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, introduced a medical marijuana bill seven years ago when he was in the Ohio House. Burke, a Marysville Republican and a pharmacist, said the issue is "uncomfortable" for him, but the legislature needs to take a thoughtful look at the issue.

Yuko and Burke agreed Issue 3, last year's failed recreational marijuana measure, was profit-driven and their effort will not consider recreational marijuana use.

Twenty-three states have comprehensive medical marijuana programs where people with certain medical conditions can legally purchase and consume marijuana. Another 17 states have legalized marijuana high in cannabidiol (CBD) a compound found in marijuana that does not produce a "high" and is low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Such marijuana has been used to treat severe seizure disorders.

Tuesday's announcement follows the formation of a House-sponsored medical marijuana task force whose membership raised more than a few eyebrows. The panel is stacked with groups that opposed the failed recreational legalization measure, Issue 3, such as the Ohio State Medical Association and Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

And the two pro-marijuana members selected for the task force were not longtime Ohio medical marijuana advocates but leaders from ResponsibleOhio, the political action committee behind Issue 3. ResponsibleOhio's proposed constitutional amendment and campaign divided marijuana advocates, many of whom had been working on a medical-only constitutional amendment with the Ohio Rights Group.

Ohio Rights Group president Mary Jane Borden said the task force is missing a medical cannabis voice.

"They're policy people," Borden said. "They're not patients, they're not medical people. The task force needs someone with greater knowledge."

A spokesman for House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger said the speaker and Rep. Kirk Schuring, a Canton Republican, chose the panel members. Spokesman Brad Miller said Rosenberger and other House Republicans reached out to ResponsibleOhio after November's election and asked if they would be interested in a task force.

"In the long term, having those people on the task force is helpful to offer various opinions," Miller said.

Miller said patients and patient advocates will be able to help the task force by testifying at its weekly public hearings at the Statehouse. The hearings will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 28, Feb. 4 and 11 and at 7 p.m. Feb. 18, Feb. 25 and March 10.