Ohio Medical Marijuana Law: The 20 Qualifying Conditions

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OHIO MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

In June, Gov. John Kasich signed the Ohio Medical Marijuana Law, making Ohio the twenty-fifth state to legalize a comprehensive medical cannabis program. HB 523 provides that certain specific diseases, syndromes, disorders and ailments qualify for the program.  I have been inundated with questions about what will qualify under the law.  Here is the complete list (subject to change by regulators) that Ohio has chosen.

• Acquired immune deficiency syndrome(AIDS/HIV)
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Cancer
• Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE, the degenerative disease most commonly found in football players and other athletes in contact sports)
• Crohn’s disease
• Epilepsy or another seizure disorder
• Fibromyalgia
• Glaucoma
• Hepatitis C
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Pain (either chronic and severe pain or intractable pain)
• Parkinson’s disease
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Sickle cell anemia
• Spinal cord disease or injury
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Ulcerative colitis
• Any other disease or condition added by the state medical board under section 4731.302 of the Revised Code

Stay tuned to this blog for updates and changes as the law is implemented.

DO NOT DRIVE IF YOU IMBIBE.

We have also warned you that Ohio’s OVI law, as currently written, makes driving with a metabolite of marijuana a crime. Ohio is one of only six states to choose a per se limit for marijuana.  Worse yet, they have made the chemical metabolite illegal.  Why is this bad? Firstly, the metabolite cannot scientifically be an impairing substance.  It cannot breach the brain-blood barrier, thus it cannot enter the brain. Secondly, the appearance of a metabolite is in no way related to WHEN the person was impaired by cannabis.  Ohio is thereby punishing a status.

OVI attorney answers questions on Ohio’s marijuana and driving laws in this video. 

I have argued that there are at least three arguments against the current law. First, it punishes a status and not a behavior.  Second, the law is disproportionate as it applies to drivers who legally use cannabis. Third, the average woman has more body fat than the average man. The existence of the metabolite stores in fat cells. Thus, women are treated differently under the law which violated the Equal Protection clause.

If charged with violating the Ohio OVI law for use of cannabis, please give me a call to discuss the multiple ways I can help you beat the charge.  I have been a speaker, lecturer and advocate for the full legalization of cannabis for many years. I have trained as a Drug Recognition Expert. Further, I study the science of OVI impairment by marijuana and know how to defend you.  Give me a call today at (937) 318-1384 or 24/7 at (937) 776-2671.