With members pledging to be open-minded and willing to learn, the new House Medicinal Marijuana Task Force met briefly for the first time Thursday. The 15-member panel will start taking testimony from the public at its hearing on Feb. 11. Testimony generally will be taken in the order that people contact Rep. Kirk Schuring's office.

With members pledging to be open-minded and willing to learn, the new House Medicinal Marijuana Task Force met briefly for the first time Thursday.

The 15-member panel will start taking testimony from the public at its hearing on Feb. 11. Testimony generally will be taken in the order that people contact Rep. Kirk Schuring�s office.

The Canton Republican is heading the group and stressed that he is not approaching it with any preconceived notions about medical marijuana or what the committee will recommend in a report likely at the end of March.

Two other lawmakers also sit on the panel. Rep. Dan Ramos, D-Lorain, said he is generally in favor of legalizing medical marijuana because it sounds like there can be some positive uses for it.

Rep. Stephen Huffman, R-Tipp City, a practicing physician for 20 years, said he�s looking at evidence-based medicine, and there are a number of marijuana-derived products being used in Europe to treat seizures and multiple sclerosis and being tested at Nationwide Children�s Hospital.

�More than likely, they will be approved by the (U.S. Food & Drug Administration) in several years,� he said. �There has to have been some type of evidence-based medicine that it has been beneficial. Let�s weigh the evidence out and see what policy would be best for the people of Ohio.�& amp; lt; /p>

The first meeting Thursday essentially gave members a chance to introduce themselves and make brief comments. The group includes medical, business, pro-marijuana and law enforcement representatives.

Dr. Brian Santin, representing the Ohio State Medical Association, said the group supports innovations that lead to improved patient care.

�We�re open to exploring whether marijuana represents that type of innovation.�

The panel also includes two members of the ResponsibleOhio group that unsuccessfully pushed a marijuana legalization ballot issue in November. The group spent $25 million and got trounced after opponents painted the issue as a money grab by investors trying to build a monopoly into the Constitution. The defeat came even though proponents aired ads emphasizing what they saw as the benefits of medical marijuana, including emotional Ohioans seeking treatment for their children.

Chris Stock, a lawyer who wrote that ballot proposal, said it�s critical that the legislature take up the medical marijuana issue.

�One way or another, when the legislature isn�t tackling this issue, there are opportunities for bad public policy to come in through a constitutional amendment process,� he said.

Nationally, 23 states have legalized marijuana in some form. Of those, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Alaska also have legalized it for recreational use.

The Senate is conducting its own, separate look into the medical marijuana issue. Sens. Dave Burke, R-Marysville, and Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, are leading a listening tour that will start Saturday in Cleveland, to be followed in February by meetings in Cincinnati and Toledo.

Burke, a pharmacist, has said he is skeptical of the need to legalize medical marijuana, while Yuko has advocated it for more than a decade.

jsiegel@dispatch.com

@phrontpage