Medical marijuana stumbles in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A drive to make Ohio the 18th state to legalize medical marijuana hit a speed bump as organizers were told they didn't file 1,000 valid signatures.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told the Ohio Coalition for Medical Compassion only 534 of the 2,143 raw signatures of registered voters submitted survived scrutiny of county boards of election.

DeWine did not address if the proposed petition language accurately represented proposed language for a constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, The Blade of Toledo reported.

The proposed Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment would decriminalize the possession, delivery, transport and cultivation of marijuana when it is used to treat or alleviate medical symptoms.

An approved patient could have as much as 3 to 5 usable ounces of marijuana and up to 12 cannabis plants for his or her own medical use.

Organizers must now gather 1,000 valid new signatures before it can put its proposed language in front of DeWine, The Blade said.

After that, the group would have to gather at least 385,245 more signatures, or 10 percent of those who voted in the 2010 gubernatorial election, for the proposal be put on the ballot. The earliest election on the measure would be November 2012.