Ohio Approves First Round of Medical Marijuana Doctors

On April 11, the first round of doctors in Ohio were approved to recommend medical marijuana. A total of 37 doctors were approved. Many of those in the first round are located in Northeast Ohio.

Holistic practitioners, specialists, medical doctors and D.O.s were among those approved, according to Cleveland.com. A second batch of doctors is scheduled to be approved in May. The State Medical Board will publish the names of the approved physicians in the near future.

Once a physician indicates that a patient’s condition qualifies for medical marijuana use, the patient can register with the state via the doctor’s office. An electronic card ban be obtained immediately and the patient can visit a medical marijuana dispensary with that card. The patient registry should be up and running in July.

Patients will still have to wait to visit a dispensary as final rules and regulations are not completed and dispensaries are still awaiting their final approvals. Dispensaries may, however, not open on time as some delays are occurring in the state.

Ohio could have as many as 200,000 qualifying patients, some industry experts project.