Author: Cheryl Stephen

With a new ballot initiative in the works that would allow Ohioans to grow six marijuana plants at a time for their own recreational use, this is a valid question.

Not everyone has a green thumb but considering that there may soon be the option of legally growing personal-use marijuana, one must wonder how many will abandon the state’s program.

The adult-use proposal would legalize recreational marijuana for Ohioans 21 years old and over. It was submitted to the Ohio attorney general’s office on Monday and could be put before voters in November if all ballot initiative criteria is met.

A coalition called Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is behind the proposal.
The group’s spokesman and attorney Tom Haren said that, if passed, the measure would leave the state’s controlled medical marijuana program generally untouched and the two programs would work well together.

Qualifying and participating in Ohio’s program is no easy path. Critics say there are not enough certified doctors, licensed dispensaries, growers and other necessary supports, like approved testing labs. There are hoops to jump through and the expense of the drug make it impossible for some to afford.

Applicants must first locate a physician with an active Certificate to Recommend (CRT) from the State Medical Board of Ohio.

The map below, taken from the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program website, indicates how many doctors offer this service and where they are located. Some areas are without certified doctors within reasonable distance.

Doctor’s visits and the required $50 state e-card fee are not covered by health insurance. Neither is the cost of the drug itself.

According to the website, one must maintain a physician-patient relationship and see the doctor at least once each year.

Dispensaries also are few and far between, with only 50 in the state.

Some locations are not currently open for business and others have long lines or are missing various types of the drug.

Next is the availability and cost of the product itself. Here is the current pricing from the Ohio Medical Alliance LLC website. This is an out-of-pocket expense.

Rather than hurting Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program with new competition, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol spokesman said it would actually work to the advantage of existing growers and distributors since they are already involved in the program and have their businesses set up with approval from the state.

Haren said the state has disregarded the needs of Ohioans by not adding more to its list of qualifying conditions, even though numerous studies have shown medical marijuana would be beneficial. The state has approved about 20 conditions.

In other states that went from medical to full adult legalization, the larger demand for the recreational product can crowd out the medical market. Haren said the Ohio proposal contains language that would require the state to ensure medical marijuana is available to those who need it before recreational users.

Haren said that, if passed, the amendment would triple the number of retail marijuana locations that currently exist under Ohio’s medical marijuana program.

Under the current law, the Board of Pharmacy is no longer accepting applications for dispensary licenses.

It also and would allow for an additional 1.5 million square feet of cultivation area for new growers, said Haren. He said it would add jobs and bring in significant revenue to the state.

The proposal clarifies it is illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana or give the substance to minors. The plan also allows private property owners and employers to prohibit or restrict use on premises or by employees.

Ohio's lack of initiative to reform its four-year-old medical marijuana law brought about a new effort to legalize recreational marijuana.

There’s a movement underway to legalize adult-use of recreational marijuana in the state. A proposed amendment could be put before voters as early as November.

The proposed amendment would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by Ohioans over 21 and would allow for growing up to six plants for personal use on one’s own property, with certain limiting conditions.

A petition was submitted to the Ohio attorney general on Monday, laying the groundwork for an initiative that would go before voters in November’s general election. A ballot initiative, such as this, is a process that typically takes several months and tens of thousands of signatures to reach the ballot.

The AG’s office has ten days to certify the issue before additional steps can be taken toward getting the plan in front of voters.

A coalition called Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is behind the adult-use campaign.

The group is represented by Tom Haren, an Ohio attorney and acting spokesman. Haren previously represented medical marijuana licensees.

Haren said that, if passed, the amendment would triple the number of retail marijuana locations that currently exist under Ohio’s medical marijuana program and would allow for an additional 1.5 million square feet of cultivation area for new growers. He said it would add jobs and bring in significant revenue to the state.

The state’s lack of initiative is what brought about the need for reform, said Haren.

“It doesn’t feel that we have a real willing partner in the state to make the needed reforms,” said Haren.

“The state medical board has refused to add new qualifying conditions, despite ample evidence to support the addition of various conditions, like anxiety, autism, opiate use disorder and others.”
Another problem with the current program, Haren said, is the confusion regarding possession.

“It’s very confusing for patients to participate in because of the language regarding the 90-day supply and the confusing way to calculate possession limits when patients are making purchases,” said Haren.

In addition, Haren said there is very restrictive advertising regulations, making it difficult for patients to get information about the program from the businesses that provide the product.

Haren said the adult-use program was designed to ensure that there is sufficient access to new consumers, but in a way that prevents an over-supply of product in the market.

“Current medical marijuana operators could begin selling in the adult-use market, and the Department of Commerce could issue additional adult-use licenses after that point,” said the attorney.

The amendment will direct the department of commerce to conduct necessary studies prior to issuing new licenses so no one is excluded from the first round of adult-use licenses, Haren explained .

The program spokesman said it would bring in significant tax revenue for the state.

The organization would direct the tax revenue after the general assembly enacts a special tax, explained the attorney.

Haren said what he really likes about the amendment is the way it addresses social equity, and that this has been a large component in legalization efforts.

Fifty percent of generated tax revenue would go directly into the state local government fund, accorinding to Haren. Twenty-five percent would go into a new commission on expungement, social equity, diversity, and so forth that would make recommendations as how to spend that money for social equity purposes.

Haren said 10 percent of tax revenue would go directly to the communities in which the retail sales took place.

If passed, Ohio would join 11 other states that have legalized marijuana for adult use purposes.

Haren said it would provide the level of access to marijuana that Ohioans were promised back in 2016.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of effort, but we’re confident that we’ll get on the ballot in November and when that happens, we’re confident we’re going to win,” said Haren.

Regarding growing of marijuana by private citizens, Haren said there are safeguards surrounding those provisions. “It can’t be grown openly or publicly, and it must be in a locked, enclosed space.”

The Ohio Medical Cannabis Industry Association has not come out yet in support of the measure, but individually many of the members are supportive, said Haren.

The guidelines set forth in the measure limit possession to under an ounce, with no more than eight grams of concentrate.

Adults could grow up to six plants in an enclosed area, with a limit of three flowering plants.

“Adults should be permitted to responsibly consume marijuana,” said the attorney, who added that the proposal protects Ohioans from irresponsible use and creates new chances for entrepreneurs to enter the industry.

Supporters said the plan does not impact the rights of the state’s medical marijuana patients.

The proposal clarifies it is illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana or give the substance to minors. The plan also allows private property owners and employers to prohibit or restrict use on premises or by employees.

There’s nothing funny about the new coronavirus, but some people’s response to it can be pretty off-the-wall. On a slow news day, our staff checked out headlines from across the state and around the globe, and came up with this compilation of Crazy New Coronavirus Stories.

“Corona beer virus” searches soar as Corona beer sales plummet

 

Sure. Coronavirus and Corona beer sound similar, but does anyone really think the two are connected? Apparently, yes.

A survey conducted by 5W Public Relations found that 38 percent of beer drinkers won’t buy Corona “under any circumstances” and The New York Post reports 16 percent of those surveyed said they weren’t sure if the two were connected.

Online searches for “corona beer virus” spiked in early February, according to CNN, but have since declined.

Fake text messages and other scams.

Don’t fall for COVID-19 scams. An unsolicited link to coronavirus information could very well be a link to a computer virus, warns the Center for Disease Control. The Ohio Department of Health said that there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Trumbull County.

If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, imagine what a slice of cake could do.

The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Italy has risen to nearly 1000. This hasn’t stopped some wisecracking Italians from laughing in the face of danger.

At the Gelateria Infinito shop on the outskirts of Cremona, customers can get a “Coronacake,” among other goodies.

Wave your cane in the air if you remember the Bump dance craze from the 70’s.

No confirmation on how much truth there is in a Reddit post that shows some folks have dropped the handshake in exchange for the Bump as a way of greeting one another. No exchange of germs here.

KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell take a hit on Wall Street

Yum China, a near $20 billion dollar enterprise and parent company of the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands, lost approximately 15% of its market value this year, stemming from coronavirus fears.

It’s no surprise that a company with “China” in its name could be affected more than the average stock by the novel coronavirus.

In addition, Nike has reportedly closed about half of its company-owned stores in China, according to reports. About 17% of Nike revenue comes from China, where a large percentage of its products are made.

No sense in taking chances! Anything for our babies.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a face mask for yourself, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one.

You’re about a month too late if you’re looking to purchase face mask protection. Pharmacies and supermarkets have been sold out for weeks. According to a WalMart pharmacy associate in an East Ohio store, they get multiple requests from customers everyday for face masks.
“They’ve been on backorder and we have no idea when we’ll be getting anymore,” said the associate.

Other Ohio pharmacies said they are taking hundreds of calls a day from people searching for face masks.

Amazon also is sold out of the N95 masks that the CDC recommends.

A resourceful few have found ways to improvise:

Last but certainly not least…

Muslim Pilgrimage Poses New Risk of Spread

Religious pilgrimages and ceremonies in the Middle East have emerged as a dangerous new risk in the spread of the new coronavirus. This Iranian is doing nothing to help matters as he demonstrates how he can “remove” the virus to save others by licking the shrine.

Disturbing behavior as man licks shrine to remove virus

 

Even though they’ve been around for decades, most people only recently have heard of “forever chemicals.”

This group of 3,500 man-made chemicals is used to make household products water-proof and non-stick. The problem is that the substance has found its way out of the household and into the nation’s water systems.

They’re called forever chemicals because they are resistant to breaking down in the environment and have been linked to numerous serious health issues. Worse, they are completely unregulated by the government.

The movie Dark Waters was based on the contamination of water in Parkersburg, West Virginia, with forever chemicals that were allegedly spilled by an area DuPont plant.

Two Ohio representatives want to keep forever chemicals out of Ohio’s drinking water by establishing maximum allowable contaminant levels for PFAS, also known as forever chemicals.

Rep. Mary Lightbody (D-Westerville) and Rep. C. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) are sponsoring House Bill 497 which confronts the problem of forever chemicals here in Ohio.

“The scientific data being gathered on these dangerous toxins has created an imperative to address the need for clean water and the elimination of pollutants in our environment,” Rep. Lightbody said.

Supporters of the bill say that it will compliment Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent call to explore the issue. DeWine issued an order in September 2019 to figure out how prevalent these chemicals may be in Ohio’s drinking water.

A PFAS Action Plan resulted from the order, which will be taken on by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Health.

This would be the first step in learning how widespread the problem is in the state.

Building on that effort, the legislation would require the Ohio EPA director to adopt rules establishing maximum levels for both drinking and surface water. Among specific chemicals to be policed include Chromium-6 and 1.4 dioxane.

Environmental watchdog groups say contamination of U.S. drinking water with manmade forever chemicals is far worse than previously thought.
In forming the rules, the OEPA director would be asked to consider limits adopted by other states, studies and scientific evidence, materials produced by the federal government and recent independent and government agency peer-reviewed studies.

“The scientific data being gathered on these dangerous toxins has created an imperative to address the need for clean water and the elimination of pollutants in our environment,” said Lightbody.

The EPA has known since at least 2001 about the problem of PFAS in drinking water but has so far failed to set an enforceable, nationwide legal limit. The EPA said early last year it would begin the process to set limits on two of the chemicals, PFOA and PFOS.

The EPA said it has helped states and communities address PFAS and that it is working to put limits on the two main chemicals but did not give a timeline.

Throughout 2019 and now in 2020, the scope of this new potential health crisis has come more into focus.

About 700 PFAS-contaminated sites have reportedly been identified nationwide, while more than 110 million people may now be drinking contaminated water. More recent testing found high PFAS levels in drinking water in 34 major US cities.

Some researchers say nearly every source of surface water in the country is contaminated.

“They’re everywhere,” warned Christopher Tavenor of the Ohio Environmental Council, “and there are serious health concerns with these substances.”

Some drinking water supplies in Ohio have been impacted, including water supplies in Belpre and Little Hocking Water Association. They both sit across the Ohio River from a DuPont plant near Parkersburg, WV, that relied on forever chemicals for production.

The plant first came under scrutiny in the late 1990s after Ohio environmental attorney Rob Bilott got a tip from a farmer. The farmer’s cattle were dying after drinking contaminated water.

Bilott took the case and went on to become the lead attorney in the nation on PFAS contamination, successfully taking DuPont to court for negligence and winning millions of dollars in damages in class action lawsuits.
Ohio also filed a lawsuit against DuPont alleging the company “caused widespread PFOA contamination in Ohio as a result of decades-long, intentional releases of massive amounts” of the chemical into the environment.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has long advocated for tough federal standards for PFAS and related chemicals, far lower than the EPA’s suggested guidelines.

The EWG set up an interactive map that shows PFAS in the drinking water of dozens of U.S. cities, including metropolitan areas. PFAS Contamination in the U.S.

Another map reveals industrial sites in Cleveland and across the country that have used the chemicals for industrial uses such as electroplating, raising concerns over the chemicals seeping into ground water, rivers and streams. Suspected Industrial Discharges of PFAS

Under pressure from Congress, the EPA in January took steps toward setting new, lower legal limits for two PFAS chemicals. It’s also proposing a regulatory determination to set national standards.

The PFAS Action Act of 2019 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. It would require the EPA to designate PFAS and related “forever chemicals” as hazardous materials. The legislation is currently being reviewed by a Senate committee.

 

A television reporter’s request for help from an Ohio legislator resulted in a newly proposed law, House Bill 510.

The reporter was Ron Regan of 5 on Your Side in Cleveland. Regan was working on a story and needed some specifics on the number of accidents caused by unsecured loads on Ohio highways.

The representative Regan went to for help was Tom Patton (R-Strongsville).

When Patton obtained the information the reporter needed, Patton realized there was a serious problem in the state that needed to be addressed.

“The numbers were way up there,” said Patton. “When you’re seeing 6,800 crashes because people are not taking the time or that extra strap to secure a load, something needs to change.”

What Patton discovered was that, according to crash data from the Ohio Highway Patrol, debris from unsecured loads contributed to some 6,794 crashes from 2015 to 2019.

“There were an alarming number of crashes,” said Patton. “Some of these resulted in very serious injuries and even some fatalities.”

Specifically, during that same time period, there were 715 injuries and at least six fatalities, data showed.

Motorists were charged in some of the incidents but the charges and fines were minimal, even when significant injury was involved.

Ohio is among the most lax in the nation when it comes to fines and penalties for unsecured loads. Currently, this offense is capped at $150 in Ohio with no jail time. There is no provision if someone is injured as a result of the unsecured debris.

Patton’s legislation would significantly increase fines and penalties for drivers convicted of unsecured load violations.

If passed, House Bill 510 would boost fines to $500 for an unsecured load violation and $2,500 and a third-degree misdemeanor if someone is injured. The violation is currently considered a minor misdemeanor.

Ohio is unlike 28 other states that have maximum fines from $500 to $5,000 and 16 others that provide for possible jail time, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

As introduced, the new legislation states that no trash, rubbish, waste, wire, paper, cartons, boxes, glass, solid waste, or any other material of an unsanitary nature that is susceptible to blowing or bouncing from a moving vehicle shall be driven or moved on any highway unless the load is covered with a sufficient cover to prevent the load or any part of the load from spilling onto the highway.

The exception to this rule, according to the proposal, is when driving or moving a farm vehicle used to transport agricultural produce or agricultural production materials. It also excludes rubbish vehicles in the process of acquiring a load.

The Ohio Revised Code currently only required that vehicles are “so constructed, loaded, or covered as to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking or otherwise escaping”.

The era of the death penalty could be slowly coming to an end in Ohio, where executions have been on hold during a year-long struggle to obtain execution drugs.

Now there’s a new effort underway to abolish capital punishment in the state.

Conservative leadership in the Ohio House last week announced its effort to eliminate the death penalty through the formation of the Ohio branch of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.

The group is a network of conservatives questioning the alignment of capital punishment with their conservative principles.

As policymakers and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction seek to obtain intravenous execution drugs or to pass a law allowing an alternative method, there seems to be growing momentum for scrapping the death penalty altogether.

Gov. Mike DeWine said pharmaceutical companies don’t want their products used to carry out executions and have threatened to block access to the medications, which have other medical uses for Ohioans.

Since taking office last year, DeWine has issued 11 stays of execution delays. At the same time, juries have handed down six new death sentences.

The state is the eighth in the country in total number of executions. There have been 56 executions since the state resumed the death penalty in 1999.

Thirty-five conservative leaders from around the state have signed CCATDP’s national Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty, something that they pointed out has already occurred in half of the other states in the nation.

The creator of Ohio’s death penalty law said he thinks the state won’t have another execution. Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who wrote Ohio’s death penalty law, said he thinks Ohio has already seen its last execution. He said this is a good thing.

Pfeifer said he now opposes how the law is used, but he doubts lawmakers will abolish the law entirely.

“I think it’ll be a tough sell to get the legislature to repeal the death penalty that’s on the books,” Pfeifer reportedly said.

Pfeifer is now with the Ohio Judicial Conference. Pfeifer admitted that the death penalty has been good for one thing: plea bargains, which is useful in avoiding trials that are painful for the victims’ survivors and costly for the courts.

While support for death penalty appears to be mounting, Senate President Larry Obhof, (R-Medina), reportedly said in early February that it is “unlikely” the Ohio General Assembly will abolish the death penalty completely within the next year.

Obhof said that most lawmakers still favor executions in “particularly heinous cases.”

The Conservative Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty was signed by 35 Conservative leaders listed below: