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Backers of Ohio's Medical Marijuana Amendment Outline Their Plan for the Fall Ballot

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT

Though state lawmakers are studying the possibility of legalizing medical marijuana, a national group supporting legalized medicinal pot says it's on its way to putting a constitutional amendment before Ohio voters this fall.

The plan from the Marijuana Policy Project provides a list of conditions that would qualify patients for a state-issued card and allows them to grow up to six plants.

Executive Director Rob Kampia said though the amendment designates a limit of 15 commercial cultivating sites, it’s not a monopoly like the one Ohio voters rejected last fall.

“People actually have to apply and be approved by the government fair-and-square rather than being pre-selected in the initiative,” Kampia said.

Kampia also says the proposal will be submitted to the state in the next three days. If the wording is approved, the group has until July 6 to gather more than 305,000 valid signatures to make this fall’s ballot.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.