COLUMBUS, Ohio – The State Medical Board of Ohio is accepting petitions for new conditions and illnesses that would qualify for treatment by medical marijuana.
The petition deadline closes Dec. 31.
The agency hasn’t changed a previous position that illnesses and conditions that get added to the list of “qualifying conditions” for medical marijuana cannot be removed, said board spokeswoman Tessa Pollock.
That means all petitions could be rejected.
Medical board members have, in the past, said the board needs to defend medical science. They’ve said if new medical research shows marijuana is ineffective or harmful in treating a disease, the board needs the ability to remove the disease from the list, which they believe they lack.
The first time the medical board accepted new illness petitions, all petitions ultimately rejected, in part based on the interpretation of conditions having to forever remain on the list.
A lawmaker involved in writing the 2016 law said that if the medical board requests it, the Ohio General Assembly can amend the statute to say the medical board can remove the conditions they add. But it doesn’t appear that the medical board has made the request, since the legislature isn’t considering any such bill.
The following 21 qualifying conditions are on the list, written into the 2016 law legalizing medical marijuana:
- AIDs
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Cancer
- Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
- Crohn’s disease
- Epilepsy or another seizure disorder
- Fibromyalgia
- Glaucoma
- Hepatitis C
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Pain that is either chronic and severe or intractable
- Parkinson’s disease
- Positive status for HIV
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Sickle cell anemia
- Spinal cord disease or injury
- Tourette’s syndrome
- Traumatic brain injury
- Ulcerative colitis
Thus far, petitions submitted to the medical board include anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, Asperger’s disorder, Epstein-Barr, gastroesophageal reflux disease, neuropathy, traumatic brain injury, as well as conditions that are currently on the list -- such as PTSD.
On Jan. 2, the board will begin reviewing the petitions. By Jan. 8, the board is scheduled to decide which petitions meet the law’s requirements.
“New this year, we’re introducing a public comment period,” said Stephanie Louka, the board’s executive director.
The public comment period will begin after the board’s Jan. 8 meeting. Written comments will be accepted, she said.
After the comment period, the medical board will vote in six months whether to add the conditions.
Last year, the board reviewed a number of petitions and decided to further study marijuana for anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, depression, opioid-use disorder and insomnia.
A group of four medical board members nixed depression, opioid-use disorder and insomnia – saying the medical studies weren’t strong enough to conclude marijuana was effective – but that it was going to recommend the full, 12-member board OK marijuana as a qualifying condition for anxiety and autism.
Then Nationwide Children’s Hospital intervened, saying marijuana was harmful for children, and the board rejected anxiety and autism for children and adults.
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