By FRANK LEWIS

PDT Staff Writer

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has certified the petition for the proposed Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment to the Ohio Constitution.

On Jan. 12, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office received a written petition to amend the Ohio Constitution from the Committee to Represent the Petitioners. The submission was certified Friday as containing both the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a “fair and truthful” summary of the proposed amendment.

“Without passing upon the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure to be referred … I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed constitutional amendment,” DeWine wrote in a letter to the petitioners.

DeWine said once the summary language and initial signatures are certified, the Ohio Ballot Board must determine if the amendment contains a single issue or multiple issues. The petitioners must then collect signatures for each issue from registered voters in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, equal to five percent of the total vote cast in the county for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election. Total signatures collected statewide must also equal 10 percent of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election.

The initiative lists glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, cancer and Krohn’s disease, and includes chronic conditions that produce symptoms such as severe or chronic pain or nausea, as conditions that would be included in those covered by the use of medical marijuana.

The full text of the letter and of the amendment petitions submitted can be found at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/BallotInitiatives.

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 232, or at flewis@heartlandpublications.com.