Ohio Medical Marijuana Program

Obtaining medical marijuana through Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program involves three steps:

1

Visit a certified physician who can confirm that you have one of the medical conditions that qualify for medical marijuana and have the physician create your profile in the Patient & Caregiver Registry.

2

Confirm and complete your registration for the program through the Patient & Caregiver Registry.

3

Purchase medical marijuana from an Ohio dispensary with a certificate of operation from the Board of Pharmacy.

Ohio Medical Marijuana Program FAQs

Below are some common questions about the Ohio Medical Marijuana Program.

Patients are responsible for keeping their medical marijuana fully safe and secure. Each patient is responsible for making sure that no one else has access to or uses their medical marijuana. In the event you suspect or learn that your medical marijuana has been stolen, misappropriated, or is the subject of illicit activity, contact your local law enforcement immediately. Medical Cannabis must be stored in its original tamper-evident container. Do not remove the label from the container. Keep it in a secure area, away from children. Must prevent children from obtaining and using medical cannabis unless such child is the qualifying patient.
It is illegal to possess or use cannabis if you do not have a debilitating medical condition and are not a registered qualifying patient or caregiver. Patients (or their designated caregiver) must have their registration ID card on them at any time the patient (or their designated caregiver) are in possession of medical marijuana. Medical marijuana must be secure, sealed, and inaccessible during transport. It is not legal to transport medical marijuana in a vehicle unless it is in a reasonably secured, sealed, tamper-evident container and reasonably inaccessible while the vehicle is moving.
Registration Card All registered qualifying patients (or their designated caregivers) must notify the board of pharmacy within 7 calendar days of learning their registry identification card is used fraudulently or that their patient or caregiver registry was accessed without authorization. Notify no later than 30 calendar days of any changes in the information previously provided, other than a change in a qualifying condition. The death of a patient must be reported by the caregiver or patient’s legal representative. The list of reporting obligations listed above is not an all-inclusive list of every reporting obligation for patients or caregivers under the program. Please refer to the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program website for more information regarding the reporting obligations for patients and caregivers. https://medicalmarijuana.ohio.gov/

A patient’s 90-day recommendation is now divided into two 45-day fill periods based upon the patient’s current, active recommendation. The first fill period consists of days 1-45 of the recommendation and the second fill period consists of days 46-90 of the recommendation. The first fill period begins when the patient receives a recommendation.


In each 45-day fill period, a patient may purchase up to a 45-day supply of medical marijuana, regardless of when purchases are made within the 45-day fill period.


If the 45-day fill period has been exhausted, the patient must wait until the next 45-day fill period to purchase additional medical marijuana.
Conversely, if a patient does not purchase any medical marijuana within a 45-day fill period, the patient is only permitted to purchase a maximum of a 45-day supply of medical marijuana during the next fill period.

To assist dispensary employees and patients in calculating these new fill periods, the Board of Pharmacy has developed a form that automatically calculates the new 45-day fill periods. This form can be accessed at www.medicalmarijuana.ohio.gov/PatientFillCalculator.

Ohio Administrative Code defines the increments in which medical marijuana products can be sold in Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program dispensaries.

A patient and a patient’s caregiver(s) may collectively purchase no less than a whole day unit at a single time. A whole day unit shall equal the following amounts for each authorized form of medical marijuana:

(1) One-tenth of an ounce (two and eighty-three hundredths’ grams) of plant material.
(2) Two-hundred ninety-five milligrams of THC contained in a patch, lotion, cream, or ointment.
(3) One hundred ten milligrams of THC contained in an oil, tincture, capsule, or edible for oral administration.
(4) Five hundred ninety milligrams of THC contained in oil for vaporization.
Thus, no products amounting to less than the whole day unit could be sold at a dispensary. This allows a one-day supply “up to” the amount delineated in the rule for a whole day unit. This interpretation was limited to the 1-day supply of the products; all 2 or more days’ supply amounts needed to be exact multiples of the whole day unit for that product.

The numbers above are based on the numbers included in the Product ID Assignment, not lab results. Patients can purchase products with high CBD content and low THC content in more reasonable quantities and products with THC content that falls in between the day supply increments. THC and CBD target doses continue to be required on product labels. Actual cannabinoid dose must still fall within +/- 10% of target dose.

Learn more on the official Ohio state website here.