An hour-long discussion in Baker University Center Tuesday ended with one conclusion about the use of medical marijuana in Ohio — more scientific research needs to be done before it is legalized.
A panel including two Ohio Medical Cannabis Association representatives, a representative of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Association of Ohio and Chris Harris, director of Ohio University’s Office of Community Standards and Students Responsibility, drove the conversation.
Ohio University may not allow the use of medical marijuana even if it were to be approved in the state, said Harris.
“I’m not sure what the institution would do,” he said.
One main point for the Ohio Medical Cannabis Association’s executive director, Theresa Paniello, was a necessity of research on the body’s endocannibinoid.
“We have a biological system that nobody has studied yet,” she said. “We don’t know how it is being affected.”
The association’s General Counsel Marc Ramach argued that marijuana deserves to be classified as a Schedule II drug in the United States, which would allow it to be used for medical use. It is currently a Schedule I drug, he said.
“If the federal government isn’t doing it, and the general assembly won’t do it because the federal government won’t do it … we as citizens need to utilize our rights and get it through,” he said.
Though the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association of Ohio is against the legalization of marijuana, it is open to further U.S. Food and Drug Administration research, said ADAA consultant Jim Ryan.
“People who are patients have the right to know their medicine has gone through the testing and trials that the United States is known for,” he said.
“Voters and legislators are not certified to know what is good medicine.”
Ryan went on to voice his concerns about marijuana leading to a potentially dangerous lifestyle.
“Folks think they’re okay and they’re not,” he said. “[People] can still demonstrate impairment weeks after their last use”
Currently, medical marijuana has been legalized in 16 states.
The Health Promotions Department in the CIC, along with POWER/GAMMA, hosted the event.
bl171210@ohiou.edu
