Ohio adds further medical conditions to the cannabis list

State officials tasked with overseeing Ohio's medical marijuana program last week approved the addition of three health conditions that qualify a patient for medicinal use of cannabis. With this move, the number of serious medical conditions that allow a patient to use cannabis for medicinal purposes in Ohio increases to 25, and is the second time state regulators have updated the list this year. On Wednesday, the Ohio State Medical Board announced that it had added Huntington's Disease, Terminal Disease, and Spasticity to its approved list of diseases. Huntington's disease is a rare, inherited, neurological disorder that causes nerve cells to die in the brain. The disease mostly occurs in adults in their 30s and 40s and causes progressive cognitive, motor, and psychiatric symptoms. A cure for Huntington's disease has not yet been found, but treatments, including pharmaceutical drugs, physical therapy, and talk therapy, have been shown to help patients manage their symptoms. Spasticity is a medical condition characterized by prolonged muscle contraction and abnormal muscle tension. Spasticity is a symptom that is often associated with injury or disease of the brain or nervous system, as well as neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. The inclusion of all three new medical conditions in the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program (OMMCP) is effective immediately. The board also voted to reject petitions aimed at adding autism spectrum disorder, restless legs syndrome, panic disorder with agoraphobia, and convulsions to the list of conditions that qualify a patient for medicinal use of cannabis. Under House Bill 523, the measure that legalized medical marijuana in Ohio in 2016, the state Medical Association was given authority to make additions to the state list of qualifying conditions during an annual petition and review process. However, prior to that year, the panel had approved only one medical condition, severe wasting syndrome known as cachexia, to be added to the list in 2020. Anyone can apply for a disease to be included in the OMMCP, but petitions for diseases that have already been reviewed and rejected by the Board must contain new scientific information to support the new application. Petitions must include the specific disease or condition to be added and information from experts who specialize in investigating it, including relevant scientific or medical evidence, information on whether existing treatments are inadequate for the condition, and evidence that support the use of medical marijuana to treat the condition. In February, the Board's Medical Marijuana Committee reviewed the petitions for the 2020 application period. The Committee decided that three of the petitions, for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Chronic Migraine and Arthritis, had already been approved by admitting pain that is either chronic or intractable. were covered as a qualifying medical condition.