The Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee, created with passage of Substitute House Bill (HB) 523, met for the first time on November 1. The group will be advising the State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO), the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy (SOBP), and the Ohio Department of Commerce (ODC) on development of regulations to implement Ohio’s medical marijuana statute. All rules are to be developed by Friday, September 8, 2017, with programs operational by Saturday, September 8, 2018.
Since the federal government prohibits physicians from being able to prescribe marijuana, patients must have a recommendation from a certified physician and the certification to recommend (CTR) process will be developed by the State Medical Board.
- Procedures that a physician must follow when applying for a CTR
- Conditions that must be met to be eligible for a CTR
- Schedule and procedures for renewing a CTR
- Reasons for which a CTR may be suspended or revoked
- Standards under which a CTR suspension may be lifted
- Minimal standards of medical care when recommending treatment with medical marijuana.
- AIDS
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
- Crohn’s Disease
- Epilepsy/Seizure Disorder
- Hepatitis C
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Pain: Chronic/Severe or Intractable
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Positive Status for HIV
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Sickle Cell Anemia
- Spinal Cord Disease or Injury
- Tourette’s Syndrome
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Ulcerative Colitis.
- Oils
- Tinctures
- Plant Material
- Edibles.
The ODC will adopt rules and license medical marijuana cultivators, processors, and testing laboratories. Rules will specify the number of cultivator licenses to be issued, set eligibility criteria for licensure, and develop rules for the administration of licensed facilities. The ODC will also license processors and set standards for packaging, labeling, and ensuring consistency and product quality. Furthermore, the ODC will have authority of testing laboratories and will maintain a “seed-to-sale” electronic database.
All presentations and documents (except for the meeting minutes) from this meeting are available on the committee’s website.
Please watch future editions of the Weekly Family Medicine Update and the OAFP website for additional information.