It was five years ago that the state of Ohio had legalized medical marijuana. Now the state may be taking the biggest leap forward to helping treat its medical marijuana patients.
With Senate Bill 261, doctors would be given the ability to prescribe the medicine if he or she believes it would help any condition.
James Godwin, who owns Sky High Wellness, remarked, “I saw some of the issues that some of the Cincinnati area patients were going through. So, my daughter and myself opened up an advising center and started advising patients on how to get their card. Then we branched out and started finding doctors to work with us and started prescribing themselves.”
Godwin says SB 261 would do a lot of good for medical cannabis.
“Anxiety doesn’t qualify, ADHD doesn’t qualify. Should be receiving their medical marijuana and with it putting into the prescribers’ judgment is, like I said, absolutely tremendous,” Godwin explained.
Matt Close is the executive director of the Ohio Medical Cannabis Industry Association. OMCIA agreed and said, “Allowing physicians to recommend as they see fit is a huge thing for the industry and patients. Adding conditions is fantastic,” Close said. “We have a hard time getting through some of the other regulatory processes to get conditions approved, so I think when Sen. Hoffman has done 261 will definitely help that.”
New conditions that the bill adds to qualify for medical cannabis are arthritis, migraines, autism spectrum disorder, spasticity or chronic muscle spasms, hospice care or terminal illness, and opioid use disorder.
