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Ohio House Names Medical Marijuana Task Force; Recreational Effort Stalls

Republican State Rep. Kirk Schuring, standing at the lectern, will head task force. (Jo Ingles / Statehouse News Bureau)
Republican State Rep. Kirk Schuring, standing at the lectern, will head task force.

by Jo Ingles

The Ohio House of Representatives has formed a task force to look at medical marijuana and how it might work in the Buckeye State. 

The task force includes Republican and Democratic house members as well as leaders from organizations that opposed the marijuana legalization plan that was on the ballot last fall.

But it also includes backers of that effort like Jimmy Gould, the man who was in charge of raising $25 million from investors to run the campaign that voters rejected by a two to one margin.

“When you get beat that way, you come back and you figure, what’s the next best way?” Gould said.

Gould said the next-best way is to work with lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana. He said efforts to legalize pot for personal use have been suspended along with a plan that would have expunged records for Ohioans who have been convicted of low level marijuana crimes in the past.