By Steve Elliott of Toke of the Town
The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment is “a beautifully, effectively balanced and very reasonable amendment for medical cannabis,” according to Stephen Downing, former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, who endorsed OMCA at a press conference in Columbus, Ohio, on March 29.
A proposed citizen-initiatied amendment to the Ohio Constitution, the measure’s language is focused on extending to patients eight rights based on the Bill of Rights within the Ohio Constitution. The amendment also establishes an Ohio Commission of Cannabis Control to support, uphold and defend those rights, as well as to regulate medical marijuana in the state.
Both the Ohio Attorney General and the Ohio Ballot Board in January certified OMCA as eligible for collection of the 385,000-plus signatures needed to quality for November’s general election ballot.
According to Downing, the amendment “deals very reasonably with patient rights. It has a non-discrimination clause. It has a privacy clause for your medical records. It provides for those patients who want to grow their own that they can grow their own … And most importantly, it provides for the commercial production of medical marijuana that is regulated, grown and taxed.”
The press conference, sponsored by the Ohio Medical Cannabis Association, kicked off the signature gathering campaign to place the initiative on November’s ballot. The coverage headline the 6 o’clock news on two of the biggest TV stations in Columbus, Ohio’s capital city.
Ohio is the seventh-largest U.S. state, and has been a prime swing state in recent national elections.
“It is gratifying to have such a prominent and positive response to the ballot language,” said OMCA spokeswoman Theresa Daniello. “To have those words come from a former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department is truly special.”
Article From Toke of the Town and republished with special permission.
