Pubdate: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 Source: Newark Advocate, The (OH) Copyright: 2014 The Advocate Contact: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/customerservice/contactus.html Website: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2634 Author: Charles A. Peterson GRANVILLE PROPOSAL WOULD ELIMINATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA GRANVILLE - The Granville Village Council is considering changes to the village code that would stiffen language that now appears to allow medical use of marijuana. If the proposal is adopted, it would align the language more with the Ohio Revised Code, which disallows use of marijuana for medical purposes. It also would make driver's license suspensions connected with marijuana offenses mandatory rather than discretionary. A public hearing will be conducted Sept. 3 for Ordinance No. 12-2014, which was introduced by the council Wednesday night. Village Law Director Michael King explained the two aspects to the proposed modifications. "One change is eliminating the affirmative defense for possession of medical marijuana," he said. "That's because state law prohibits it. It is my opinion that section is superseded by the Ohio Revised Code. "The other change is making the driver's license suspension mandatory rather than discretionary because in the revised code a court has no choice than to impose a driver's license suspension of between six months and five years. As the Granville code is currently drafted, that is a discretionary suspension." King said the proposal replaces the word "may" with "shall" in seven sections of the ordinance to make the Granville law consistent with state law. King said the language in "Part Five: General Offenses Code" of the village ordinances will not change. It states under "513.03 Drug Abuse; Controlled Substance Possession or Use" that the ordinance does not apply to: "Any person who obtained the controlled substance pursuant to a lawful prescription issued by a licensed health professional authorized to prescribe drugs." King said marijuana is a "controlled substance" in the eyes of the state along with drugs such as heroin or cocaine, which means it is illegal to sell, use or possess. "There are some controlled substances that can be prescribed by a doctor," King said, such as the pain reliever Vicodin, "and some that can't," such as marijuana. Deleted entirely from the Granville code would be Section 513.03(d), added in 1996, which reads: "It is an affirmative defense to a charge of possessing marihuana (sic) under this section that the offender, pursuant to the prior written recommendation of a licensed physician, possessed the marihuana solely for medicinal purposes." The medical marijuana language was discovered in the village code by Granville resident Dennis Cauchon, a former USA Today reporter who was working on an as yet unpublished freelance story on Ohio marijuana laws. In a letter to The Granville Sentinel two weeks ago, Cauchon was critical of the idea of modifying or eliminating the language, stating the issue should go onto an election ballot. Village officials in 1996 did not recall the language being added to the ordinance code, which had been done through a subscription service that helps local municipalities update their laws to reflect changes in state law. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D