Ohio senators debating a medical marijuana bill passed by the Ohio House have made some changes to the plan.
A Senate committee wants to put the state’s pharmacy board in charge of the medical marijuana plan – not the Department of Commerce as was designated in the House-passed plan. It also wants to loosen requirements on doctors who recommend marijuana and put them under the oversight of the board that already governs them – the Ohio State Medical Board.
Aaron Marshall, a spokesman for a national group that wants to get a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana on the November ballot, takes issue with those changes.
“This latest version merely changes which set of political appointees are given the power to determine the future of medical marijuana.”
The proposed ballot initiative -- and another proposal -- would allow patients to smoke or grow their own marijuana – which is not permitted in the Legislature’s plan.
