COLUMBUS – The lone patient representative on a panel that advises Ohio’s medical marijuana regulators has been replaced with one of the owners of a large-scale cultivation facility in the state.

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder removed Bob Bridges from his post as the patient representative on the Ohio Medical Marijuana Committee last week.

On Monday, Householder appointed his replacement: Cincinnati attorney Chris Stock. Stock authored Ohio’s failed 2015 recreational marijuana measure and is an owner of Riviera Creek Holdings LLC, one of the state’s 31 licensed marijuana growers.

“Stock brings a wealth of experience and a commitment to patient advocacy,” Householder spokeswoman Gail Crowley said in an email. Crowley noted Stock was a member of the House’s 2016 Medical Marijuana Task Force, which reviewed research and testimony and recommended legalizing cannabis for medicinal use.

The advisory committee doesn’t have any regulatory authority but it’s the public-facing part of Ohio’s medical marijuana program. The patient representative is one of the few on the panel who regularly asks critical questions of regulators.

When asked how a marijuana business owner was a good fit to present patients’ concerns and questions to the panel, Crowley said Stock owns less than 5% of the facility was a strong advocate for patient access while on the 2016 task force.

Stock did not immediately return a phone call from The Enquirer on Tuesday morning. He is a partner at Cincinnati law firm Markovits, Stock and DeMarco.

"The combination of his past service as well as his legal, policy, and regulatory knowledge and experience will make him a strong board member and advocate for patients," Crowley said in a follow-up email.

Stock is the chief compliance officer named on Riviera Creek's cultivation application. Markovits, Stock and DeMarco have 15% equity in the company divided among three partners – Stock's share is 5.625%, according to the application.

Bridges, of Columbus, was the second person to fill the patient representative role. Bridges was appointed in April 2018 after Ted Bibart, a Columbus attorney, resigned. Bibart represents CannAscend, an Ohio medical marijuana company owned by Jimmy Gould, another ResponsibleOhio founder.

When Bibart quit, he said the program would be bogged down by bureaucracy and the advisory committee didn't have the power to improve it.

Bridges said he wasn't told why he was removed but he suspects his opinions about the program were not appreciated. Bridges criticized the program's numerous delays, restrictions and, more recently, high costs to patients.

"I’m known to be vocal. I’m known to be straightforward in my approach,” Bridges said Tuesday. “I was trying to get them to listen and maybe they don’t want to hear what I was trying to say."

In a statement last week, Crowley said Householder "believed it was time to go in another direction and we will be making another appointment in the near future."

The position is one of two appointed by the Ohio House Speaker.

Other members of the 14-person committee are appointed by the governor, Senate president, Senate minority leader and House minority leader. Other members include a nurse, a caregiver, physicians and pharmacists, as well as representatives of labor, business, drug and alcohol addiction treatment.