With Ohio's Legislature moving to quickly repeal our state's version of a
medical marijuana law, I am hard pressed to understand why. The law hasn't
caused any commotion like California's Proposition 215 and was written
solely for the intent of allowing sick patients using marijuana a defense
when and if they came into contact with the law.

Currently the federal government is studying the benefits of marijuana for
treatment of nausea, the wasting syndrome that results from HIV/AIDS, and
glaucoma, among other ailments. The commission has admitted that evidence
exists that marijuana is helpful in treating these diseases.

Why, then, doesn't our Legislature table this repeal until the studies are
complete, as Virginia's legislature has done? It seems to me that to do
anything else would be pure political grandstanding.

Jerry Eberhardt