Findlay City Council made sure to give its two-year moratorium on medical marijuana a final vote Tuesday, but tabled legislation that would continue funding for the Arts Partnership of Greater Hancock County through the city's hotel/motel bed tax. Council voted 9-1 to enact a ban on dispensing, cultivating or processing medical marijuana within city limits until Sept. 8, 2018. That will be exactly two years from the date the Ohio Legislature legalized the drug. Council plans to revisit the ban once state officials establish rules, which is expected to take at least two years. [continues 360 words]
Lawmakers weren't bluffing when they pledged they would consider medical marijuana after an outside group's effort to legalize pot failed last November. Much of that push, of course, came from polls suggesting Ohioans favor medical marijuana, and from concerns that outsiders would again try for a more liberal marijuana law by amending the state constitution. Not only did lawmakers carefully study the issue, they passed a bill that will become law if Gov. John Kasich signs it. Kasich should. House Bill 523, while not perfect, is a conservative approach to allow those with legitimate medical conditions to have access to a drug that can benefit them when others don't. The legislation won't appease all. Some people still believe marijuana should not be legalized in any shape or form. [continues 324 words]
Gov. Bob Taft is on a crusade against a ballot initiative that would make sweeping changes in the way drug offenses are handled in Ohio. The governor is joined in his efforts by numerous law enforcement groups, medical and hospital officials, judges and attorneys, crime victim groups, and drug treatment professionals. The initiative -- the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies -- would require judges to sentence nonviolent first- and second-time drug offenders to treatment programs instead of prison. So what's so terrible about that? Few would argue that if a person has a chemical dependency that causes him to break the law, he needs treatment. [continues 411 words]
