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On June 8, 2016, Governor John Kasich signed Substitute House Bill 523, making Ohio the twenty-fifth state to legalize marijuana for medical use. The law allows patients to use but not smoke marijuana with a physician’s prescription.

House Bill 523 addressed more than just the regulation of medical marijuana cultivators, processors, testing laboratories, dispensaries, and physicians. The legislative impact of House Bill 523 also aims to address many common questions regarding medical marijuana. Individuals facing common controversies around employment, allocation of parental rights, and real estate should know:

• An employer is not required to permit or accommodate an employee’s use, possession, or distribution of medical marijuana, and may take an adverse action against that employee.
• An employee discharged from employment because of medical marijuana use will not be entitled to unemployment compensation if the employer has a zero tolerance drug policy.
• An employee may be ineligible for workers’ compensation if he or she is under the influence of marijuana and being under the influence was the proximate cause of the injury, regardless of whether a physician recommended the use of medical marijuana.
• The use or possession of medical marijuana cannot be the sole reason for determining a child is abused, neglected, or dependent.
• The use or possession of medical marijuana cannot be the sole reason for allocation of parental rights and responsibilities.
• The use or possession of medical marijuana cannot be the sole reason for a parenting time order.
• The police cannot administer a field sobriety test solely based upon a patient or caregiver’s registration with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy. There must be an independent, factual basis.
• Local Government may prohibit or limit the number of licensed cultivators, processors, or dispensaries within their jurisdiction.
• Farmland for medical marijuana is not land devoted exclusively to agricultural use. The land is taxed based on the fair market value.
• A renter’s status as a registered patient or caregiver cannot be the sole or primary basis for rejecting the person as a tenant, unless federal law requires rejection.
• A financial institutions that provides financial services to a licensed cultivator, processor, retail dispensary, or laboratory is exempt from any Ohio criminal law an element of which may be proven by substantiating that a person provides financial services to a person who possesses, delivers, or manufactures marijuana or marijuana derived products. This exemption exists only if the cultivator, processor, retail dispensary, or laboratory is in compliance with Ohio law. NOTE: The use of marijuana for any reason is still illegal under federal law. No state can authorize violations of federal law. Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Justice on October 19, 2009, encouraged federal prosecutors not to prosecute people who distribute marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with State law. The Trump Administration has not indicated if they will have different directions for federal prosecutors.

If you have any questions about medical marijuana in Ohio, including the application and licensing process or how to comment on the proposed rules, you should consider contacting an attorney at Graff & McGovern. John Izzo of Graff & McGovern can be reached at 614-228-5800, extension 5.