Marietta – With the recent legalization of medical marijuana in Ohio through House Bill 523, businesses and local governments in Washington County are forming opinions on the topic and how they will approach this new law.
While the law may say use is OK in certain circumstances, some municipalities and employers are weighing whether they may say otherwise.
“You know, I don’t think that I would have much of an issue with it, to be honest,” said John Jack, CEO of Water Energy Services in regards to employees obtaining prescriptions for medical marijuana. “If you look at all the medications out there … obviously you can’t come to work impaired.”
Jack said he would treat the situation the same as he would with alcohol and other medications that cause impairment due to his line of work involving heavy machinery.
“I’m not a doctor … I don’t know what that stuff does or what it doesn’t do; maybe it does good in some fashion,” he said. “I’m not the one to determine that, but if the doctor says so and it’s legal to take, I have no position on that; you just can’t come to work impaired.”
Ohio House Bill 523 was passed on May 25 and came into effect on Sept. 8.
It will take approximately two years in order to form an advisory committee and to design the program. As far as access goes, patients must be prescribed the medication by physicians who have “certificates to recommend” from the Ohio State Medical Board.
Additionally, those who wish to dispense the marijuana will have to be registered by the Ohio commerce department and the medical and pharmacy boards.
Municipalities still have the option to completely outlaw any use of medical marijuana, place a moratorium on the law or allow it to be legal within their community.
Currently, Marietta is under a moratorium for six months and does not allow distribution of medical marijuana within city limits. Marietta City Councilwoman Sarah Snow, R-at large, said they are doing so to proceed with caution.
“We’re waiting just to see what happens,” said Snow. “It’s not that we don’t want it here; we want to see how it is going to spell out.”
Snow said they will be watching how other cities and counties deal with Ohio’s law change and to observe any complications that may arise.
“We just want to watch and see what happens before we completely outlaw something like that or before we allow it,” she explained. “It’s an act of caution at this point.”
Councilwoman Kathy Downer, D-at large, added they also wanted to avoid grandfathering businesses in before all of the details are ironed out.
“We didn’t want a little shop popping up to distribute,” said Downer. “Though, I thought maybe we should ask the hospital to do it.”
However, Jennifer Offenberger, director of marketing and public relations for the Memorial Health System, issued a statement that they will not be distributing nor recommending medical marijuana as a treatment.
“The Memorial Health System and its medical staff support the Ohio Hospital Association, representing 220 hospitals and 13 health systems in Ohio, in opposing the legalization of marijuana in Ohio,” she wrote in an email. “At this time the Memorial Health System medical staff does not support the use of medical marijuana; it will not be dispensed to patients in our system.”
The Memorial Health System is not the only entity opposed to the idea. Marietta College will continue to not accept any form of marijuana on its campus. Tom Perry, executive director for strategic communications and marketing at Marietta College, also issued a statement including the adjustment to their student handbook.
“While H.B. 523 provides for an ‘affirmative defense’ against prosecution for marijuana possession charges for those with written permission from their doctors to use marijuana in a form allowed under the law; possessing, distributing, or using marijuana, even medicinally, violates federal laws, such as the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act,” reads the update. “These laws require that Marietta College prohibit marijuana in any form.”
Perry was unavailable for comment to clarify whether or not this means that it will also be prohibited for staff or students to be under the influence of marijuana while on campus.
Still, Downer said she feels medical marijuana will be beneficiary to a lot of different people.
“The whole thing is going to take about a year and a half to two years in the state of Ohio,” said Downer. “I just think a lot of patients would benefit from it.”
Meanwhile, Belpre City Council and Mayor Mike Lorentz are very much against the legalization of medical marijuana.
“I believe it is a gateway drug and I’ll never sign legislature to authorize it in my city,” said Lorentz. “When we had the discussion in the committee, we had no cooperation in bringing it in the city.”
Discussions have even reached local school board of education meetings. Belpre City Schools Superintendent Tony Dunn said no policies have been changed as of yet, but discussions have occurred.
“We realize that there are some medical uses for marijuana; as a board, we have not talked about it that much,” he said. “We’re going to have to have a whole lot more information about what strains and products there are … there are strains of marijuana that have no intoxicating effects, if you will.”
Dunn said he doesn’t foresee this new law to be a problem within his schools.
“We don’t have people coming to work intoxicated; we are in a pretty regulated workplace and on task,” he said. “I don’t look for the legalization of medical marijuana to change what we do daily in schools.”
Marietta City Schools Board of Education President Bill Hutchinson said they haven’t had many discussions thus far, but he does foresee policies being put in place in the future.
“I can’t speak for the board, but I would be for putting a policy in place,” said Hutchinson. “I suppose we would have to look at that and dig down into it a little bit.”
Ultimately, he said there will need to be a discussion soon to discuss the issue.
“We would have to look at it as board and see what the scenarios are,” he said. “I understand that there are people out there who need help; speaking for myself, if somebody really needs it because they are that sick, I’m compassionate.”
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Local Communities Mull Medical Marijuana Concerns
Author: Hannah Kittle
Contact: 304-485-1891
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: The Parkersburg News and Sentinel