Help The Ohio Medical Cannabis Association
Whether you’re in Oakland or Akron, when you are seriously ill you deserve safe access to medical cannabis. 90 million Americans are fortunate enough to live in a state with medical marijuana laws on the books. We want to break the 100 million mark by letting voters in the ultimate swing state give medical cannabis their stamp of approval.
Ohio politicians haven’t been much better on this issue than the gang in DC. They are badly behind the times, with the most recent polls showing that nearly 3 in 4 Ohioans support medical cannabis. Yet, medical cannabis in Ohio has gone nowhere until now.
Fortunately, Ohio voters have a way to propose their own laws and put them to a vote. The Ohio Medical Cannabis Association is bringing new energy to this effort, writing a great bill for patients, and bringing together patients with health, education, legal and drug policy experts to form a professional organization that can see this effort through.
What makes Ohio’s bill so great? It’s a fresh approach to reform. Our constitutional amendment definitively gives eligible patients the right to use, possess and cultivate marijuana to alleviate their suffering. It also provides the right to confidentiality and privacy, creates the rights for the industry to exist in Ohio and vests the State of Ohio with the responsibility of upholding and defending those rights. Rather than cement regulation in stone via a constitutional amendment, ours creates a commission tasked with protecting patients’ rights and making sure the system keeps in step with medical and legal advances. This commission would have the flexibility to change regulations as needed in order to best provide for the patients of Ohio. You can find out more on our website: www.omca2012.org.
We’ve crossed the first hurdles and have already won approval for our ballot proposal from two state government offices. The tough part comes next. In order to get Ohioans their rights as soon as possible, we have until the 4th of July to gather over a half million signatures.
We can do absolutely do this, but we’ll need your help. In the next few weeks we’ll need to have 7,500 petition books printed and sent to our staff and volunteers in every corner of the state. Every dollar you can contribute puts us much closer to our goal of making the ballot in 2012.
Why this year? The most important reason is patients are suffering right now. The longer we wait the more suffering our seriously ill friends and family members will have to endure. The sad truth is some of those who would benefit most right now, won’t live long enough to see these rights realized.
There are other great reasons why you should give now. Ohio is the seventh largest state and always a focal point for national attention when it comes to politics. Never is this truer than in a presidential year, like 2012. We can stand up for our medical rights everywhere by letting Ohioans vote their values and approve medical cannabis rights this November.
Thanks for your interest and your support,
Theresa Daniello
Ohio Medical Cannabis Association