MARIETTA - Marijuana could be grown and used for medical purposes under a state constitutional amendment Ohio voters may consider in 2012. MARIETTA - Marijuana could be grown and used for medical purposes under a state constitutional amendment Ohio voters may consider in 2012.

The Ohio Alternative Treatment Act recently met initial criteria to allow supporters to begin collecting the more than 385,000 signatures needed to place the issue on the 2012 general election ballot.

The amendment would allow medical practitioners in a "bona fide practitioner-patient relationship" to recommend cannabis as a treatment for qualifying medical conditions. These would include cancer, AIDS, Parkinson's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and other diseases, conditions or treatments that produce severe nausea, pain or muscle spasms.

The amendment would allow patients to possess no more than 3.5 ounces of usable cannabis and 12 cannabis plants if they are growing their own. A caregiver or safe access center could grow the plants for a patient but that individual or location must be registered with the state. The possession limits for a caregiver are 3.5 ounces of usable cannabis or 12 plants for each patient with whom he or she is connected.