How new Ohio medical marijuana bill will work

Описание: CINCINNATI (Jeff Hirsh) - Legal marijuana is coming to the Buckeye State, but only in a very limited way.

The medical marijuana law signed by Governor John Kasich makes pot available to patients of about twenty serious or chronic illnesses.

The stories told to Ohio legislators earlier this year were heart-wrenching

Parents plead for the legalization of medical marijuana, something two dozen other states had already done:

"One of the extraordinary choices confronting families like mine, uprooting our families to legal states. It's a phenomenon called cannabis refugees," said Nicole Scholten.

Now, those refugees can apparently stay home. Ohio has legalized medical marijuana.

The bill signed by Governor Kasich is very restrictive and much different than the marijuana amendment rejected last year by voters.

No recreational marijuana, no home growing, and no smoking joints. The medical marijuana can be vaporized, or used in oils, or edibles.

Growers and sellers must be licensed by state agencies, and doctors must be certified to recommend medical marijuana. It may take about a year for all of that to happen, and for medical marijuana to actually become available in Ohio.

Patients must receive a doctor's recommendation. The form can't be called a prescription, because marijuana is still illegal federally, so it will be sold at newly created dispensaries, not at pharmacies.

This does not automatically mean that medical marijuana will be available down the street from you. Dispensaries can't be located near schools, or day care centers for example and the locality where you live, city, village, or township, can either limit the number of dispensaries, or prohibit them altogether.

There are still questions which a newly-created marijuana control commission will have to address.

For example, because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, most banks won't touch the money, which turns marijuana into a cash business.

That raises all sorts of security issues