Ohio_Patient_Network

In early June the Iowa State Pharmacy Board stated that marijuana has no medical benefits.  Susan Frey, who chairs the state pharmacy board said "there is no truth to marijuana having any medicinal benefits.".  The Iowa Pharmacy Board was reacting to a petition initiated by the Carl Olsen of the Iowans for Medical Marijuana organization.  A Polk County judge ordered the board in April to reconsider the petition to remove marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Iowa Uniform Controlled Substances Act.

Now the Iowa Pharmacy board has relented by announcing a series of public hearings on whether or not marijuana is a schedule 1 drug.  Schedule 1 drugs are drugs that has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use  and that it lacks accepted safety for use in treatment under medical supervision. or another way of saying it in plain speak marijuana is deadly, addictive and has no accepted medical use. The first hearing is scheduled for August 19th.

Iowa is home to George McMahon and Barbara Douglass, both are federal medical marijuana patients who receive a tin of 300 marijuana joints every month.  The federally provided cannabis is handled via the pharmacy network, so it will be very interesting to see what the Iowa Board of Pharmacy says after the hearings. 

For more information see a local TV news story, use the Google link or see Iowa’s Quad City Times new article.

Medical marijuana won the most favorable support in University of Cincinnati Institute for Policy Research's social issues poll.

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Medical marijuana was supported by 73% of Ohioans in the recent University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research's social issue poll. Some highlights from that poll, in addition to the 73% overall support, are that 77% of Catholics, 77% of middle age Ohioans (age 46 to 64), 65% of Republicans, 64% of those over 65 years old, and even 58% of conservatives support medical marijuana.

There are Ohio patients who are struggling with their medical conditions and Ohio laws at the same time.  The most atrocious incident was with a gentleman by the name of Randy Brush who was sentenced to 3 years in prison for 4 plants.  Brush had no prior criminal history.  Unfortunately, Brush met a judge who publicly stated his goal was to sentence a million man hours before his retirement from the bench.

More recently was retired social worker Susan Stevens, who had a few plants in her backyard.  Stevens was fortunate that local law enforcement executed a flawed search and the case was eventually dismissed.  Currently ongoing is the case of Addie J. Cyrus, who also has no criminal record, not even a traffic ticket.  Cyrus has the full support of her doctors, but will not be permitted to bring that fact into the courtroom.

In 1996 three states passed medical marijuana laws, two by ballot, and one by the legislators.  California and Arizona voters passed medical marijuana ballot initiatives.  The third state was Ohio, whose state legislators passed a law permitting patients charged with a marijuana offense to submit medical evidence into court.  Senator Voinovich, then the Governor, made it a priority bill the next year to rescind that legislation. Now Ohio patients who are charged with a marijuana offense are not even allowed to introduce evidence that their doctors support using marijuana as part of their medical treatment.

Ohio Patient Network is working with state legislators to change Ohio laws concerning medical marijuana.  This is fully supported by Ohio citizens as evidenced by this recent poll by the University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research's poll data.