View a previous report on recreational marijuana sales in the video player above.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — While the roadmap for Ohio to receive its first legal vendors of recreational marijuana remains uncertain, the state’s cannabis agency laid out the timeline to become a medical marijuana patient as a comparison.
Ohio passed its recreational marijuana amendment in a sort of limbo; residents can legally possess and consume it, but can’t buy it. Lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse have been working on bills that would adjust the amendment and establish recreational dispensaries, but Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on stipulations that would also strip some of the existing rights from the original amendment.
Even if a bill passed at the Ohio Statehouse and Gov. Mike DeWine signed it into law on Friday, it would still take at least 90 days for the new law to go into effect through the legislature’s typical process, and recreational marijuana to go up for sale. However, Ohioans wanting cannabis for medical reasons have a much quicker route. The state legally permits residents to request medical marijuana for the following conditions:
| AIDS | Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
| Alzheimer’s disease | Cachexia |
| Cancer | Chronic traumatic encephalopathy |
| Crohn’s disease | Epilepsy or another seizure disorder |
| Fibromyalgia | Glaucoma |
| Hepatitis C | Huntington’s disease |
| Inflammatory bowel disease | Irritable bowel syndrome |
| Multiple sclerosis | Pain that is either chronic and severe or intractable |
| Parkinson’s disease | Positive status for HIV |
| Post-traumatic stress disorder | Sickle cell anemia |
| Spasticity | Spinal cord disease or injury |
| Terminal illness | Tourette syndrome |
| Traumatic brain injury | Ulcerative colitis |
Jamie Crawford, a public information officer for the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control, explained the process for obtaining a medical marijuana card, which isn’t actually physical plastic.
“This is a digital card that they can download to their device,” Crawford said.
Crawford said the DCC maintains the searchable map above of doctors in the state who are certified to recommend a patient to use medical marijuana. Some of the providers go as far as offering telemedicine appointments over video calls.
“That physician creates a profile for the patient in the Medical Marijuana Control Program Patient & Caregiver Registry and uploads their recommendation for the patient. The patient then receives an email from the registry with instructions to log in to the portal and finish their registration. Once the patient logs in and completes the registration process within the portal, their medical marijuana card is issued by the system.”
Depending on appointment availability, Crawford confirmed getting a medical marijuana card and buying cannabis could be a same-day process, compared to the minimum 90-day wait for recreational users.
“That is possible, as long as the physician has created the patient’s registry profile and added their recommendation to it,” Crawford said.
Some additional steps apply for Ohioans who have indigent status or are veterans, each of whom could get up to 50% of the registration fees waived for a medical marijuana card.
“If the physician noted special status on the patient’s registry profile, the patient must provide evidence of that special status to the Division before they are able to activate their card,” Crawford said. “Once the Division receives the appropriate documentation from the patient (via email or physical mail), it is processed within 1-3 business days, at which point the patient is able to activate their registration.”
Compared with the anticipated sales of recreational marijuana, medical patients are also eligible for discounts at medical dispensaries. Their purchases are exempt from the state’s 10% excise tax. Beyond the pricing benefits, Crawford noted recreational users may not potentially receive the same treatment from a job or a judge in any pending court case.
“Employers have discretion to establish their own drug-free workplace policies,” Campbell said. “Some individual employers have chosen to take the status of an employee as a medical marijuana patient into consideration. Similar considerations have been given for individuals under court supervision who are a medical marijuana patient.”
The DCC has also recognized that legalized recreational marijuana could mean Ohioans that would have sought cannabis for medical treatment to instead buy it as a product for regular consumption. At the end of January, the DCC proposed changes to the state’s current medical marijuana policies that would eliminate the registration fees for patients and providers, as well as encourage existing medical marijuana users to remain patients. View the full list of proposed changes below:
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