Jessie Balmert

jbalmert@enquirer.com

COLUMBUS – After years of stonewalling efforts to legalize medical marijuana in Ohio, state lawmakers announced a plan to provide patients with medical marijuana by 2018.

The proposal, which will be introduced this week, would allow Ohioans older than 18 to buy edible marijuana, patches, plant material and oils with their doctors' recommendation.

Who would grow it? That's to be determined.

Within a year, a new commission would create rules on how to grow, distribute and sell medical marijuana. That means patients could have access medical marijuana within two years, maybe less, said Rep. Kirk Schuring, R-Canton, who led a several-week task force looking into the benefits of medical marijuana.

Lawmakers hope to have the bill on Gov. John Kasich's desk by the summer. Kasich, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, has said he would be open to "something" on medical marijuana, especially if it helps patients. If approved, Ohio would join 24 states, and likely Pennsylvania soon, that allow medical marijuana.

Among the proposed changes:

Children, younger than 18, could use medical marijuana with their parent's permission and doctor's recommendation.

Patients would not be able to grow marijuana at home, and it's not clear whether they could smoke it.

A nine-member medical marijuana control commission would be created under the Ohio Department of Health. Members would include a representative from physicians, pharmacists, law enforcement, mental health, alcohol and drug addiction treatment, employers, labor unions, marijuana proponents and the general public. The commission would have one year to write rules to regulate those who grow, sell and recommend medical marijuana.

Only physicians licensed by the state medical board and certified by the medical marijuana commission could recommend medical marijuana to their patients. However, lawmakers would not limit the list of conditions.

Physicians would need to report the number of medical marijuana patients, list their patients' conditions and explain why they recommended medical marijuana over other medication every 90 days.

Lawmakers would determine how medical marijuana would be taxed before passing a law.

Dispensaries that sell medical marijuana would be regulated much like liquor shops, and local communities could vote to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from their cities and villages.

Financial institutions that collect money from medical marijuana sales would be granted safe harbor from prosecution.

State lawmakers would recommend federal authorities reduce marijuana from a Schedule I drug, the most dangerous classification, to Schedule II.

Lawmakers would encourage research into medical marijuana with funding.

Employers could still ban employees from using medical marijuana in their employee handbooks, even if employees get approval from doctors.

"The workplace can still be drug-free," Schuring said. "Employers do not have to make accommodations for employees being recommended medical marijuana."

How we got here

After Ohioans soundly defeated a ballot initiative to legalize all marijuana, House and Senate lawmakers took different approaches to investigating the benefits of medical marijuana, which polls show is more popular among Ohioans than recreational marijuana.

Sen. Dave Burke, R-Marysville, and Sen. Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, visited three cities, including Cincinnati, to listen to marijuana activists and opponents. House lawmakers created a task force, led by Schuring, which held multiple meetings in Columbus. The task force included former ResponsibleOhio leaders Jimmy Gould and Chris Stock, who authored Issue 3 to legalize all marijuana. Some in the Senate questioned whether the group's motives were pure with Issue 3 proponents on the panel.

Senators, who have been working on their own medical marijuana bill, don't plan to introduce it. Instead, they will follow the House version, Yuko said. Senate President Keith Faber, who had not seen the House version, wants the final version to address his list of concerns.

"Does it include smokeable or not? Are we creating a database, just like we do with opiates? How are we going to allow the prescription? How many dispensaries are we going to have? Are we going to limit the production side? How are we going to award the licenses? Is it going to be a monopoly? All of those are questions that we have concerns about," Faber said.

The Ohio State Medical Association already opposes the House proposal, saying "it draws conclusions about the medicinal benefits of marijuana absent conclusive clinical research."

Still, Yuko, a longtime proponent of medical marijuana, said he's confident patients will be able to access medical marijuana sooner once lawmakers hear stories about patients who need help.

"I think it'll be a lot shorter than two years," Yuko said.

'Irresponsible' ballot initiatives?

Lawmakers are under a time crunch because two groups are working to place medical marijuana before voters in November. But House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, essentially told them to knock it off. Lawmakers haven't been stalling, and they are taking medical marijuana seriously, he said Wednesday.

"To those that are operating outside the scope of this process, it is extremely irresponsible to continue without coming forward and participating with us in this process," Rosenberger said Wednesday.

Rep. Wes Retherford, R-Hamilton, who introduced a bill last year to allow children with seizures to access cannabis oil, agreed that lawmakers, not outside groups, should drive changes on medical marijuana. The state constitution is much harder to amend than laws.

"Anytime things need to be changed, it has to go back on the ballot again," Retherford said.

The two ballot initiatives are from Marijuana Policy Project and its Ohio operation, Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, and Grassroots Ohio, a group of Ohio marijuana activists not thrilled about the Marijuana Policy Project's plan.

- Marijuana Policy Project's proposal would allow adults older than 21 to grow up to six marijuana plants with a recommendation from their doctor. Those younger than 18 could use marijuana with a parent's permission and physician's recommendation.

- Grassroots Ohio plans to legalize medical marijuana for those older than 18 and allow farmers to grow industrial hemp through a constitutional amendment. Then, they would send lawmakers a proposal to regulate the industry and determine how medical marijuana is distributed to patients.

Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mason Tvert wasn't impressed by Rosenberger's language about "irresponsible" ballot initiatives, calling the speaker's speech "arrogant."

"Lawmakers often dislike initiatives and assume they could draft better laws. With all due respect, they have spent a couple months looking at this issue and we’ve been working on it for a couple decades," Tvert said.

Marijuana Policy Project won't halt its ballot initiative unless lawmakers pass a quality law, said Tvert, adding that he was concerned that the proposal would take two years to implement and physicians would need to report patient information every 90 days.