It's almost impossible to discuss legalizing marijuana, whether for medical or recreational purposes, without a few giggles. But the issue really deserves the type of serious attention Ohio gives to the bad economy, government budget issues, women's rights and LGBT rights. It's not funny, for example, that an Ohio cancer patient struggling with nausea and loss of appetite as a result of chemotherapy has three options: use inadequate, potentially addictive medication; pay for a costly trip to a state where marijuana is legal; or buy it illegally, risking fines and marks on a criminal record. [continues 645 words]
Pro-Medical Marijuana Organization Targets the 2014 Ohio Ballot; Entrepreneurs Prepare for Eventual Legalization Ohioans could soon legally toke up if the Ohio Rights Group succeeds in its efforts to legalize medical marijuana and industrial hemp across the state. The 2014 ballot effort tackles the issue as Colorado and Washington move along with full-on marijuana legalization and President Barack Obama, a vocal skeptic of legalization, allows both states to pursue their "experiments." But before Ohio can vote on the issue in November, the Ohio Rights Group first needs to gather 385,247 petition signatures, which in large part must come from at least half of Ohio's 88 counties, and present them to Ohio's secretary of state before a July deadline. For a grassroots campaign, that presents a considerable -- and costly -- statewide undertaking. [continues 1067 words]
After 42 years, the war on drugs has imposed enormous costs on Ohio and the rest of the country, pushing state budgets and prison systems to their limits. But little can be said for the actual gains: Drug abuse continues to be a problem in many communities, and nationwide drug use has trended up in the past couple decades. Meanwhile, Ohio and the nation have made some strides through sentencing reform in the past few years to limit the war's budgetary impact. The changes are supposed to give convicts better chances at rehabilitating and finding employment, making it easier to avoid the life of crime that got them into trouble in the first place. That way, they're not cycling through the criminal justice system as much and holding up prison costs. The concept, in theory, benefits both individuals and society as a whole. [continues 3612 words]
Some Police Say It's Time for End What became clear to me while speaking about marijuana legalization with volunteers of the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is that the argument is really about responsibility. Are we as a society responsible for controlling what adults put into their own bodies? Or are individuals responsible for themselves? And is the Nixonian "war on drugs" -- now in its 40th year -- responsible for creating more problems than it solved? No matter what your view on America's relationship with controlled substances, you probably have a ready, emotionally charged answer. Debates get heated fast and rational discussions are in short supply. Proponents of legalization are often assumed to be potheads looking for a legal high. Retired Cincinnati Police Capt. Howard Rahtz defies this preconception. He's a conservative and has no interest in using drugs but he supports legal, controlled and public sales of marijuana. [continues 951 words]
Situation It should be no surprise that 85 percent of people caged for cannabis (marijuana) infractions were African American since the plant's prohibition was first enacted in the 1930s for racist reasons by bigots ("Pot Law a Bust, Critics Say," issue of Dec. 7). Except for police and their unions, every facet of cannabis prohibition is a lose-lose situation: lost taxes, prison overcrowding, the deficit, higher hard drug addiction rates, contempt for government, prohibition of hemp farming, etc. Cannabis prohibition is even Biblically discredited since God indicates He created all the seedbearing plants, saying they're all very good on literally the very first page of the Bible. What kind of government cages citizens for using what God says is good? Yet the point being made is if government could afford the luxury of this discrimination it would continue. Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
Repeal Would Save City of Cincinnati $350,000 Annually As Cincinnati City Council frets about how to close a $62 million budget deficit, some local activists are asking officials to consider repealing an ordinance they say isn't enforced evenly and wastes taxpayers' money. Critics allege that city's Anti-Marijuana Ordinance is being used to target specific races and is adding to the city's crippling budget deficit. "When the ordinance was first passed, they said it was just to give police broader leeway to pull people over and search for guns," says activist Justin Jeffre. "However, it has had no effect on the guns in the city and has actually resulted in less guns being found." [continues 998 words]
Ohio Senate Considers New Medical Marijuana Legislation Backed by Doctors Marijuana is a medicine. Not many doctors are willing to make that kind of statement publicly, especially when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raids result in the jailing of physicians, terminally ill patients and statelicensed marijuana growers in states where the medicinal use of marijuana is permitted by law. But Richard J. Wyderski, a physician at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, believes the benefits of the herbal therapy far outweigh the risks of pushing for legalization. In this case he's publicly backing Senate Bill 343, most commonly referred to as the Ohio Medical Compassion Act sponsored by Sen. Tom Roberts (D-Dayton). [continues 907 words]
No, Cincinnati City Council hasn't finally come to its senses, but other states are doing what a democracy usually does: following the will of the people. Decriminalizing marijuana is what a majority of voters in Boston think is a good idea, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). In a press release they announce that "nearly three out of four Massachusetts voters support a statewide ballot initiative that seeks to decriminalize the possession and use of small amounts of cannabis by persons age 18 or older." This comes from a Channel 7 News/Suffolk University poll of 400 registered voters. [continues 447 words]
You'd have to be stoned to draw any conclusions from City Manager Milton Dohoney's report on the impact of Cincinnati's new marijuana law. It's one of those reports that's most telling for what it doesn't say. For example, the report says police arrested 2,330 people for possession of marijuana between March 29 and Sept. 30. But it doesn't say that that's significantly down from a comparable period last year. The report covers the first six months of an ordinance making possession of less than 100 grams of pot a fourth-degree misdemeanor, with a possible 30-day jail sentence. Repeat offenders can be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to six months in jail. [continues 410 words]
Examining a Silly Law Last Friday night, I met up with a buddy downtown, went to a bar and had a few drinks. Well, let's say my friend had a few. The vodka and tonics were tasting pretty good, and maybe I overdid it a bit too. We both live fairly close to one another and both believe in public transportation. While walking the four blocks to catch the bus back home, my friend took a joint from his shirt pocket and lit it. As he inhaled deeply and coughed, he wanted to know if I wanted a hit. I said no. I was already feeling pretty good from the alcohol. [continues 709 words]
What's Behind the Proposed Tax Hike? For all the millions of words in newspapers and hours of over-heated remarks on talk radio about Hamilton County's jail overcrowding crisis, some common myths about the issue still persist among the public: . Myth No. 1: Violent criminals are being released early, before their sentences are completed, and put back onto Cincinnati's streets because of a lack of available jail cells. . Myth No. 2: A proposal to raise the county's sales tax by a quarter-cent for 20 years to build a $225 million jail amounts to a tax shift, instead of a tax hike, because it will be offset by a property tax rollback and planned reductions in property tax levies. [continues 3306 words]
Congress rejected a proposal June 29 to ban federal prosecutions of medical marijuana patients in the 11 states where medical marijuana is legal. But the 259-163 vote contained some good news, according to Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). The vote included 18 "yes" votes from Republicans, up from 15 last year. "Although the measure failed to pass ... medical marijuana advocates hailed the record vote as the result of a growing groundswell of support for medical marijuana from across the political spectrum," Mirken said. "Last summer the amendment received 161 votes, which was the previous record until today's vote." [continues 321 words]
The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR) has endorsed Ohio Senate Bill 74, which would allow for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The bill, in committee since February, would regulate the use of marijuana by requiring a physician to conduct an assessment and provide a statement verifying that a patient would benefit from marijuana therapy (see "Toking the Cure," issue of March 2-8). "The WONPR, along with our coalition members, represent a total membership in excess of 2.5 million women nationwide," said Jean Marlowe, executive director of the organization. "We believe in drug policies based on compassion, human and civil rights and common sense. We are honored to endorse the humanitarian efforts of the Ohio Legislature to protect their citizens from misguided and cruel government policies where the health and well-being of our citizens are at stake." In the 1930s the WONPR was instrumental in the movement to dismantle alcohol prohibition. The organization recently re-formed "to return dignity to school children, responsibility to families and credibility to law enforcement" by ending the war on drugs. [end]
The First Step Is a Permanent Cease Fire For Dee Dee Zoretic of Lakewood, Ohio, drug policy reform isn't about statistics and rhetoric. It's about whether or not she can use her right arm so she can tie her son's shoelaces. A server at Olive Garden, Zoretic fell at work, hurting her right arm, in 1999. The swelling, numbness and pain stumped the emergency room staff and her orthopedist until he did a bone scan. "This is one of those doctors who never look up at your face," she says. "They stare at the clipboard; you're a number. After he got the results of the bone scan and decided on his diagnosis, he walked into the room, went down on one knee, grabbed my left hand and got huge tears in his eyes and he said, 'I'm about to give you the most difficult diagnosis I've ever given in my life.' I thought, 'Oh, God, treat me like a number.' He told me I had reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD)." [continues 6527 words]
David Pepper wants to make high times more scarce by increasing the penalty for possessing the sacred herb. Cincinnati City Councilman David Pepper says he's never smoked marijuana, and he wants to increase the punishment for adults who do. Pepper, a candidate for mayor, has proposed increasing the penalty for possession of pot to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Ohio law treats possession of less than 100 grams as a minor misdemeanor, carrying a $150 fine and no arrest or jail time. [continues 218 words]
Regarding the issue of medical marijuana use ("Care for Sick," Letters, issue of March 9-15), it might also be important to know where the Bible stands on the cannabis issue because of the brainwashing effects of people saying cannabis is evil. It is Biblically correct to re-legalize cannabis (Kaneh Bosm, before the King James Bible). It's no accident that the Bible indicates God created all the seed-bearing plants and said they were all good, on literally the very first page in Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30. The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that we use it with thanksgiving -- see 1 Timothy 4:1-5, where it even describes who will promote its prohibition as those who have fallen away from the faith. [continues 55 words]
I'd like to thank you for Margo Pierce's article about State Sen. Robert Hagan's medical marijuana bill ("Toking the Cure," issue of March 2-8). According to polls, 80 percent of Ohioans support access to marijuana for medical purposes, and yet politicians are still afraid to speak out in public. This unwillingness to speak out is a result of voters not calling their representatives and asking them to support this kind of legislation. If I may, I'd like to ask everyone who supports compassionate access to marijuana for legitimate medical purposes to call their representative and ask them to co-sponsor Senate Bill 74, the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act. If the people don't speak, the politicians won't move on this important legislation. It's up to us to urge them to support this bill. Oregon, Ohio [end]
Why Not Pen in the Suburban Drug Users? An unsightly barricade of orange barrels might have divided the community that lies beyond it more effectively than it kept Kentucky drivers from the Pendleton neighborhood's drug market. On July 28, 2004, the city erected a temporary barricade to block direct access to 13th Street from Reading Road, hoping to stymie the easy flow of Kentucky drivers who exit Interstate 471 and shoot directly across Reading Road onto 13th Street. It was like a druggie's drive-thru, some residents say. [continues 1169 words]
Thank you for publishing the excellent article "Toking the Cure" (issue of March 2-8). I would like to clarify two points. First, I'd like to explain the image behind the article's subtitle, "Medical marijuana isn't about five hippies and a dog." In January, I visited State Sen. Robert Hagan's office with five other Ohio Patient Network members. As I heard them eloquently tell their stories, I realized how damaging the negative stereotype of marijuana is to the sick and dying. Cannabis, as these patients powerfully showed, is no longer about hippies and the counterculture. In fact, the senator's aide mentioned to us afterward that we, as ordinary citizens, might have more clout with legislators than highly paid lobbyists. [continues 205 words]
Medical Marijuana's Isn't About Five Hippies And A Dog It was the prospect of his father's impending death that made State Sen. Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) consider the medicinal value of marijuana. "I was there when the doctor said, 'You have six months, Mr. Hagan,' " he says. His father's pain and suffering is also what made Hagan bristle when he was late for a meeting and State Sen. Robert Spada (R-North Royalton), assistant majority floor leader, inquired, "What were you doing -- smoking a joint?" [continues 1315 words]
