On Wednesday, Governor John Kasich has legalized medical marijuana in Ohio. Kasich signed a bill into law allowing Ohio’s physicians to prescribe medical marijuana to treat health conditions. Previous studies have shown that marijuana can be a safe as well as an effective treatment for patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, among other health conditions.
Ohio’s marijuana legislation will allow people to use the drug in vapor form for the treatment of certain chronic health conditions. The bill does not include certain chronic health conditions. So, it is still illegal smoking marijuana in Ohio, and no one is allowed to grow medical marijuana for medical purposes nor personal use.
What has motivated Kasich is the pain that people with certain medical conditions are suffering. Kasich hopes to help adults and children to relieve the pain caused by illness.
The Republican governor signed the legislation in private, and his office later disclosed the announcement in a press release. The bill arouses both supports and oppositions from Democrats and Republicans, but it finally passed the General Assembly on May 25.
A rather fair adjusting period for Ohio’s latest law
Ohio’s medical marijuana law will take effect in 90 days, and the drug will be available within two years. Only physicians from the Ohio State Medical Association are certified to prescribe medical marijuana.
The state has to be added to the 25-state list where the drug is used for medical reasons.
#MedicalMarijuana legalized in Ohio. No smoking it, though. Just edibles, patches and such. Begins in September. https://t.co/hTRQn4WHMO
— Lynn Hulsey (@LynnHulseyDDN) June 8, 2016
Ohio’s Department of Commerce, State Medical Board and Board of Pharmacy will take part in regulating medical marijuana whether if the plant is cultivated, used, tested or dispensed.
Medical marijuana, an insight from the user’s perspective
The terms refer to the utilization of the unprocessed marijuana plant or its essential extracts to treat a diseases or symptoms. It has been proved that the marijuana (also known as cannabinoids) contains chemical properties that may help patients in treating illnesses or symptoms.
Even if The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved yet the marijuana plant as a medicine, the chemicals in the drug has been included in two medications of the agency.
Considering other benefits of marijuana, the cannabinoids have brought in patient’s; people argue that the plant should be legal for medical purposes. The benefits of the marijuana plant are such that it has been legalized in a significant number of the states in the United States.
The most recent state in legalizing the marijuana plant for medical reasons was Ohio. It seems like the state’s citizens were largely in support of medical marijuana. They were just waiting for a bill to approve its legalization.
Source: Dispatch