Gov. John Kasich recently signed into law Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Program, making Ohio the 25th state to implement its own medical marijuana laws. The program, like many others across the country, is heavily regulated – requiring oversight by the Ohio State Medical Board and the Board of Pharmacy – and like in many other states, legislators fought to distinguish the program at all costs from the recreational markets that now exist in Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, and Alaska.
The signing comes less than a year after Ohioans were witness to the rise and fall of a proposed initiative that contained an oligopoly that would have restricted marijuana production to 10 incredibly wealthy individuals – an idea they overwhelmingly rejected last November.