Senate bill would expand conditions to receive medical marijuana
A Republican COLUMBUS — state senator is sponsoring a bill that would expand conditions for Ohio medical marijuana to include arthritis, migraines, autism spectrum disorder, spasticity or chronic muscle spasms, hospice care, opioid use disorder and any condition from which a patient could benefit or experience relief in the opinion of a physician.
Senate Bill 261 comes as a group of business owners in Ohio’s medical marijuana industry collects signatures across the state to get a recreational marijuana initiated statute on the ballot. There is also a Republican-sponsored House bill that would allow cannabis for adult use. The House bill hasn’t been introduced yet. It is expected around Thanksgiving.
SB 261′s sponsor Sen. Stephen Huffman of the Dayton area said that in the five years since the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 523, which legalized medical marijuana, people approached him with requests to change the law. The bill combines all the changes, he said.
The bill would allow curbside and drive-through dispensing, which has been used during the coronavirus outbreak.
“There’s a lot of veterans and disabled people who found that useful during the pandemic,” Huffman said.
The bill aims to expand retail dispensary licenses so there is one for every 1,000 registered patients up to the first 300,000 registered patients in Ohio. Then additional retail dispensaries could be added on an as-needed basis and evaluated and awarded at least once every two years.
Ohio has 131,536 patients with active state registration cards and active recommendations from a physician authorized to recommend marijuana.
The bill would also expand the size of medical marijuana cultivation sites from 25,000 square feet to 75,000 square feet for large-scale growers and 3,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet for small-scale growers.
The increase in cultivation should lower prices, Huffman said.
“Medical marijuana is about $310 an ounce, which is much higher than surrounding
states because there’s not enough product,” he said.
Huffman said he sees his bill as a small-business measure and he expects it will be sent to the Senate Small Business and Economic Opportunity Committee. He said he hopes the first hearing is next week.