Medical marijuana is finally legal in Ohio
Let’s get medicated.
Ohio is now the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana thanks to Ohio House Bill 523 which became effective September 8, 2016.
According to the bill, those who qualify for medical marijuana will be able to use the drug in the form of edibles, vapors, patches, cannabis oils, ect.
These are the following conditions that qualify for medical marijuana use: AIDS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, cancer, chronic pain, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy or other seizure disorder, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, hepatitis C, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, PTSD, spinal cord conditions, Tourette’s syndrome, traumatic brain injury and sickle cell anemia.
Currently, the law will protect those in need of the drug if they have a doctors note and meet all the criteria.
However, the law still does not allow marijuana to be smoked or grown at home. Furthermore, there is still no way to purchase marijuana legally because the laws involved with growing and distributing marijuana are still being tweaked.
Regardless, this is a huge step towards marijuana becoming a legitimate form of medicine now that 50% of the states have legalized marijuana for medical use.
The DEA still denies that marijuana has any medical value. And the drug is still classified as a Schedule I drug meaning there is “a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.”
So while we still have to wait for recreational marijuana to be legalized, at least those who critically need the benefits are now able to do so in Ohio without having to cross state lines anymore.