Marijuana was placed on a controlled substances list in 1972, but in 1986 California was the first state to legalize it for medical purposes.
Is it a good idea for Ohio?
"We suggest that this be allowed, that we legalize it, only under the doctor's care," said State Rep. Bob Hagan, D-60th.
Hagan and Kenny Yuko, D-7th, reintroduced the medical marijuana bill in the Ohio House last month. Hagan said it would give patients suffering from cancer, HIV or other debilitating diseases another option to alleviate pain in the final stage of their lives.
"When I watched both of my parents die, both of them on morphine, if either one of them would've asked me to find some marijuana, I would have found it," Hagan said.
Currently, 16 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws on the books. The latest, Delaware, just saw its governor sign the law last week.
Two years ago, our neighbor to the north, Michigan, passed a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana with 63 percent approval.
"100 million Americans live in states or municipalities that have medical marijuana, with no great consequence, no great harm to public health whatsoever," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.
Hagan questions whether Ohio Governor John Kasich would ever sign such a bill into law. But the people might take that decision out of his hands.
Recent polls suggest upwards of 70 percent of Ohioans would support a ballot referendum...And billionaire Cleveland native Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Insurance, has pledged millions of his own dollars to the cause.
"If they don't pass laws, then the citizens are simply going to go around them, and maybe the laws that they will put up will be much less to their liking," St. Pierre said.
Meanwhile, states such as Colorado are reaping the benefits of added tax revenue from state regulated medical marijuana.
"Something that I think we should be looking at, given the fact that we are billions of dollars in debt," Hagan said.
But Hagan said that's secondary to giving people their choice of alternative medicine.
Check this website or watch Friday's newscast for Part 2 of this series.
