Get Your Medical Marijuana Card
in Ohio

In the U.S. state of Ohio, cannabis is illegal for recreational use, but possession of up to 100 grams is decriminalized. Legislation to allow a regulated system of medical marijuana cultivation, sale, and possession was enacted in 2016, but the system did not come into effect until 2017.

A medical marijuana law, House Bill 523, passed in 2016 and was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich. The law authorized medical marijuana use by patients with 21 conditions, including cancer or chronic pain, in the form of edibles, oils, patches and vaporizing. Patients and their caregivers will be allowed to possess up to a 90-day supply.

What are the qualifying conditions in Ohio?

By Ohio law, medical marijuana can be used to treat 21 qualifying conditions:

• AIDS
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Alzheimer’s disease
• 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
• Chronic Pain
• Spinal cord disease or injury
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Traumatic brain injury
• Ulcerative colitis

After Nov. 1, the State Medical Board will start accepting petitions to potentially add additional qualifying conditions.

Do I need to register as a patient or caregiver?

All medical marijuana patients and their caregivers will be required to register with the State Board of Pharmacy. The card itself is printed out online but can be laminated to your liking. 

A patient or caregiver registration will be valid from the date of issuance and expire one year later, on the last day of the month it was issued. If the patient is diagnosed as terminally ill, the patient’s registration expires after six months.

The State Medical Board of Ohio has now cleared 139 physicians to recommend treatment with marijuana, including doctors in Beavercreek Twp., Centerville, Dayton, Enon, Mason, Middletown, Springboro, Springfield, Washington Twp., West Chester Twp. and Yellow Springs.

Where will cannabis products be sold?

There are multiple dispensaries now selling cannabis to patients all around Ohio. You can purchase THC and CBD based products at dispensaries in Ohio. 

Becoming a Caregiver in Ohio

According to Ohio’s medical marijuana caregiver resource, becoming a caregiver is simple and easy, requiring the following steps:

• Registry Identification Cards: All patients and caregivers wishing to obtain medical marijuana must receive a state-issued medical marijuana patient ID card.
   
• Caregiver Eligibility: Individuals 21 and older can serve as a caregiver for no more than two medical marijuana patients. Each patient can have up to two caregivers.
   
• Patient and Caregiver Registration: The recommending physician, or a physician delegate, must submit the caregiver and patient’s name to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy medical marijuana patient and caregiver registry following their recommendation for medical marijuana.
   
• Registration Fees: The annual registration fee for a patient is $50. The registration fee for caregivers is $25. Veterans receive a 50% discount on this registration fee.
   
• Minors: Patients under the age of 18 are required to have a parent or legal representative serve as their caregiver.

Unfortunately, due to the restrictions for how many patients a caregiver can care for, marijuana patient-caregiver delivery services seen in many other states with active medical marijuana programs are effectively banned in Ohio. The Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program will allow appeals to Ohio HB 523 starting in November 2018. It is possible we will see a legal challenge to the caregiver patient limit at some point in the future, though that remains to be seen.

Patients suffering from one of the 21 qualifying medical conditions need only have their caregiver receive a recommendation from their medical marijuana doctor to become a caregiver. The doctor sends off this recommendation to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, who contacts the patient and caregiver to collect their registration fees. After this point, patients and caregivers have access to every Ohio medical marijuana dispensary.

Possession & Cultivation Limits

Patients and/or a patient’s caregiver are permitted to possess a 90-day supply of any allowable form of cannabis as defined by the following:

• No more than eight (8) ounces of tier I medical marijuana
• No more than five and three-tenths ounces of tier II medical marijuana
• No more than twenty-six and fifty-five hundredths grams of THC content in patches for transdermal administration or lotions, creams, or ointments for topical administration
• No more than nine and nine-tenths grams of THC content in oil, tincture, capsule, or edible form for oral administration
• No more than fifty-three and one-tenths grams of THC content in medical marijuana oil for vaporization

Grow Limits

Home cultivation is not permitted.