Kasich signs law permitting medical marijuana use

June 9, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

Gov. John Kasich quietly signed legislation Wednesday allowing patients with specified conditions to use medical marijuana under a doctor’s guidance, adding Ohio to the ranks of more than two dozen other states that allow the drug for medicinal purposes.

The Republican governor added his signature behind closed doors, without comment, on the same day lawmakers sent him House Bill 523 and two weeks after the Ohio House and Senate gave their final approvals.

The legislation, which takes full effect within two years, places ultimate medical marijuana oversight upon several state agencies.

The Department of Commerce will handle the licensing of cultivators, processors and testing laboratories.

The state pharmacy board will license retail dispensaries and handle patient and caregiver registrations. And the state medical board will issue certificates for physicians who will recommend use of the drug.

Rules developed by those three offices, in consultation with a new medical marijuana advisory committee, will control the drug’s cultivation, processing and sale. Members of the new panel will be appointed by legislative leaders and the governor within four months.

Doctors have to direct medical-marijuana use for their patients, with limits on the amount of the drug they could possess. The legislation lists more than 20 medical conditions that would qualify for marijuana use. It bans smoked forms of the drug and home-grown supplies.

HB 523 includes a number of deadlines for establishing the medical marijuana program – eight months for rules for cultivator licenses, including setting the number of growers that will be allowed, and one year for standards and procedures for licensing and other requirements.

Patients in Ohio will be able to use medical marijuana legally obtained from other states and in accordance to the new state law during the interim.