SIDNEY — Following an investigation by the Sidney Police Department, Shelby County Job and Family Services and the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, a Sidney man has lost his license to purchase medical marijuana.
He is the first in the state to be so censured.
The man, whose name has not been released, purchased marijuana legally and then alledgedly provided it to at least two people who did not have licenses to use it, including a juvenile.
The pharmacy board met Wednesday, Feb. 6, and ruled to suspend the man’s license.
According to Grant Miller, medical marijuana patient and caregiver liaison for the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy, patients are not given prescriptions for marijuana by their doctors. The process is different from that for other pharmaceuticals.
“If a patient has one of the 21 conditions (for which marijuana use has been ruled acceptable), a doctor can give him a recommendation. Then the doctor has to register the patient (with the state). (The doctor) creates a profile for (the patient). The doctor can attach the recommendation, can give up to three refills and provide specific instructions,” Miller told the Sidney Daily News, Thursday.
Patients are then eligible to pay a registration fee and receive a card that identifies them as legal purchasers of the marijuana. They can take the card to licensed dispensaries to purchase the drug.
Because of the pharmacy board’s action, the Sidney man’s registration is no longer valid, Miller said.
Sidney Police Chief Will Balling said Thursday that the police department plans to present the case to the Shelby County Grand Jury when next it meets.
The case also was discussed Thursday by the state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee, of which Shelby County Sheriff John Lenhart is a member.
Physicians who wish to recommend medical marijuana in Ohio must have an active certificate to recommend from the State Medical Board of Ohio. Names of physicians with certificates are listed on the website of the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program at www.medicalmarijuana.ohio.gov, as are the names of dispensaries with certificates of operation. The drug is available only from certified dispensaries.
