Speaker Cliff Rosenberger marijuana press conference

Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, a southwest Ohio Republican, on Thursday announced the formation of a task force to study medical marijuana. Members include supporters and opponents of Ohio's failed marijuana legalization measure, Issue 3.

(Jackie Borchardt/cleveland.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The co-founder of the group behind Ohio's failed marijuana initiative said Thursday that ResponsibleOhio is dead and the state legislature is the best route to legalize marijuana for medical use.

ResponsibleOhio founder Jimmy Gould told reporters Thursday that ResponsibleOhio will not be back with another constitutional amendment this year as he promised after voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 3 in November.

Efforts to gain passage of the so-called Fresh Start Act have ended, Gould said. Had Issue 3 passed, making marijuana legal, the act would have allowed for removal of previous marijuana convictions from the books.

Issue 3 would have legalized recreational and medical marijuana, but commercial cannabis could have grown at only 10 sites owned by ResponsibleOhio investors. Investors spent more than $20 million on the campaign, but the measure was defeated by a vote of 64 to 36 percent.

"We spent a lot of money, a lot of time, and we heard what the public said," Gould said during a press conference announcing a new medical marijuana task force. "ResponsibleOhio is not a part of this; it doesn't exist. Fresh Start is not existing anymore. We're here as a group, all of us, to come up with the best solution."

Gould and Issue 3 author Chris Stock will be among the 15 members on the new medical marijuana task force led by Rep. Kirk Schuring, a Canton Republican. The task force includes former attorney general Betty Montgomery, medical professionals, and representatives from business and law enforcement.

House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, a southwest Ohio Republican, said the task force should not be mistaken for a stall tactic. He said he set a March 31 deadline for the panel to report its findings so there's time for the legislature to act.

The task force will meet Thursdays at the Statehouse and invite Ohioans and national experts to testify. The first date is set for 3 p.m. Jan. 28.

Schuring said the goal is to have a real conversation with many voices at the table and the task force has few guidelines.

"I don't know what the outcome is going to be," Schuring said. "I just know that it's going to be a fair and open process where all can be involved."

The Senate plans to take a different route, which leaders there will detail on Tuesday. Sens. Dave Burke, a Marysville Republican, and Kenny Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, are leading the effort there. They plan to tour the state to listen to Ohioans' stories and ideas.

"No matter what group does this and whatever road we take, the destination should be the same," Yuko said Thursday in an interview. Yuko's desired destination: Getting medicinal marijuana into the hands of patients.

Medical marijuana bills have been floating around the Ohio Statehouse for years but were never acted on. Former state Rep. Bob Hagan of Youngstown sponsored most of them. He told cleveland.com he has little faith his former colleagues will enact meaningful reform.

"We're still living in the stone age with stone age legislatures who feel the addiction is something they can't handle," Hagan said. "Their addiction is really to the next election, not the people, and that's our problem."

Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the national advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project, welcomed the news but cautioned lawmakers against enacting legislation that "makes people feel good but doesn't do anything."

O'Keefe said states that have enacted limited medical marijuana laws, such as allowing only cannabis low in the psychoactive ingredient THC, have not been very beneficial for patients.

For example, a 2014 Kentucky law enabled universities to conduct research on cannabidiol, a marijuana compound that does not create a "high." But the universities have been unable to do so because they cannot produce the CBD oil and the expense for the trials is large.

O'Keefe said Ohio legislators should look to the 23 states with comprehensive medical marijuana programs for guidance for crafting a tightly regulated, effective program, which she says Ohioans clearly want. Public opinion polls have shown that as many as nine in 10 Ohioans support legalizing medical marijuana.

"I don't know if God and apple pie have 90 percent approval ratings -- certainly the lawmakers don't," O'Keefe said. "Suffering is not a partisan issue. Anyone can be afflicted with one of these conditions and would probably want the option to be available to them and their loved ones if it came to that."

House task force members