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Ohio Lawmakers Consider a Do-Over on Ohio's Medical Marijuana Licenses

pot leaves
Statehouse News
Lawmakers differ in medical marijuana mindset.

Ohio’s medical marijuana program is supposed to be fully operational on Sept. 8. But there are court battles over problems with the process of choosing cultivators. Some fear it might delay the start of the program.

Republican Sen. Bill Coley says patients need Ohio’s medical marijuana program to be ready to go on day one. So he’s come up with legislation that would allow a do-over in the scoring process.

“You’d rescore with independent people who don’t have conflicts doing the scoring. And you’d look at all of the scores and anybody that scored above the lowest the current provisional license holders, if they scored above the current provisional license holders, they’d be granted an additional license.”

But some lawmakers, like Democratic Sen. Kenny Yuko, are not on board.

“It would be challenging, time-wise, to get anything passed.”

Yuko says the focus now needs to be moving to get the program in place by Sept. 8th.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.