This newsletter is distributed to physicians with an active Certificate to Recommend Medical Marijuana (CTR) and provides important updates for the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program (OMMCP). 

The State Medical Board of Ohio has 679 CTR physicians as of March 10.

Medical Board Accepted Written Comments on New Qualifying Conditions

The State Medical Board of Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Committee moved the petitions for Huntington’s disease, restless leg syndrome, spasticity and spasms, terminal illness, autism and panic disorder with agoraphobia forward for expert review. 

Written public comment was accepted on the proposed qualifying conditions from February 11 – February 26.

The Medical Marijuana Committee will review the subject matter experts’ reports and make a recommendation to the full board for a vote to adopt/deny the petition to add the qualifying conditions. Later this year, the full board will decide if they should be added to the list of conditions which can qualify patients to participate in Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program.

Click here to view more information about the petitions.

Physician Annual Report 

Ohio Revised Code 4731.30 and Ohio Administrative Code 4731-32-03 require each physician with a CTR to submit an annual report to the Medical Board. To collect the annual report data, the Medical Board will be sending a survey to all certified physicians. Each physician will be asked to give their professional opinion on the effectiveness of medical marijuana for the conditions for which it has been recommended. The board will send additional information about the survey in the coming weeks. Please be aware, completion of the survey is a statutory requirement for all physicians with a CTR. If the board does not receive your survey response as requested, you may be contacted directly.

State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy Updates

Recommendation Renewals 

A patient and patient’s caregiver may, collectively, purchase no more than a 90-day supply of medical marijuana within a 90-day period per OAC 3796:8-2-04(B). If a CTR physician renews or issues a new recommendation before the patient’s current recommendation expires, the patient may be at risk of violating this rule because the patient’s “fill period” dates will reset in the Registry based on the new recommendation date. As a result, the patient may be denied medical marijuana by the dispensary to prevent a violation of this rule.

Therefore, CTR physicians must wait until the patient’s recommendation expires before entering a new recommendation. By doing so, patients will retain the same fill period schedule and no violation of OAC 3796:8-2-04(B) will occur.

Physician Contact Information 

A dispensary may only dispense medical marijuana to a patient who has a complete recommendation, which includes the recommending physician’s: (1) full name (first and last); (2) drug enforcement administration identification number; (3) medical license number issued by the state medical board; and (4) business address, telephone number, and email address.  OAC 3796:6-3-08(H)(3).

This physician information is populated into the Patient & Caregiver Registry through the physician’s DEA information. Please check your DEA registration information and confirm all information is complete and correct. Dispensaries have reported missing and incorrect physician contact information on numerous patient registrations. This missing and incorrect information may result in a patient not being able to purchase medical marijuana. Further, patients contact the Board of Pharmacy and the Board is unable to provide patients with their physician contact information because it is not properly included on the patient’s registration.

Multiple Patient Profiles 

When seeing a new patient, physicians should check the Patient & Caregiver Registry to ensure a profile does not already exist for that patient. If a profile for that patient already exists in the registry, DO NOT create a new profile. If the patient has an existing recommendation on their profile from another physician, wait for the existing recommendation to expire before issuing a new one. If a patient already has multiple profiles in the registry, please notify the Board of Pharmacy by emailing MMCPRegistry@pharmacy.ohio.gov.

To help inform physicians choosing to include instructions for use, the types of products currently available through the Medical Marijuana Control Program are listed below.