Ohio medical marijuana bill gets Senate committee hearing on Wednesday

Published: November 13, 2006

For the first time in Ohio’s history, a legislative committee will hear testimony on an effective medical marijuana bill! This Wednesday, November 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice will hear sponsor testimony on S.B. 74, a bill that will protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and imprisonment. Sen. Robert Hagan (D-Youngstown), the sponsor of S.B. 74, will testify before the committee at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

While this hearing is a good first step, the committee needs to hear testimony from patients about what it’s like to live in fear of arrest for simply treating a serious illness. Here’s what you can do to help ensure that Ohio’s sick and dying patients get the hearing that they deserve:

1) Come to the hearing on Wednesday. We need everyone who is able to go to Columbus on Wednesday morning to be in attendance. The hearing will be in the Ohio Senate Building, North Hearing Room. It is important that the members of the Judiciary Committee personally see the support for medical marijuana that exists in Ohio. Please remember to dress and act professionally; we want to engage legislators, not alienate them. If you need further information about the hearing, please contact me by e-mailing zhurst@mpp.org.

2) Call the chairman of the Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice. Sen. Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) is the chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee and controls whether or not S.B. 74 will get another hearing. He needs to understand just how important this issue is to Ohioans. A personal phone call is very effective, because legislators truly do care about their constituents’ opinions. Please let Sen. Jordan know that Ohio should join the 11 other states that have stopped arresting and prosecuting seriously ill patients for simply using their medicine.

You can reach Sen. Jordan’s office by calling (614) 466-7584. Before calling Sen. Jordan, please click here to review some key talking points to emphasize in your conversation. Remember to be polite when speaking to Sen. Jordan and his staff.

Click here to call the other committee members as well.

3) Write a letter to the nine members of the Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice. After you’ve called the Criminal Justice Committee members, follow-up with a letter urging them to hold a second hearing with patient testimony. You can use our automated system to send one of our pre-written letters to every member of the committee. Feel free to personalize your letter too. It takes only a couple moments but could make all the difference to seriously ill patients. Please take action now.

4) Write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper. The editorial pages are among the most-read sections of newspapers. And we've made it easy for you to send letters through our automated system. We’ve provided some talking points you can use in your letter, and with a click of a few buttons, up to five local papers will receive your letter.

Last month, the Ohio Patient Network — an MPP grant recipient — organized a lobby day, which helped put the pressure on the Criminal Justice Committee to give S.B. 74 this initial hearing. Now we need to keep the pressure up! Please take action today by calling and writing the committee members to let them know that seriously ill patients deserve to have their voices heard.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this alert on to your friends, family, and neighbors so that even more Ohioans can join in the reform.