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The Statehouse News Bureau provides educational, comprehensive coverage of legislation, elections, issues and other activities surrounding the Statehouse to Ohio's public radio and television stations.

Medical Marijuana Enterpreneur Says It Could Play A Part In Fighting Opioid Addiction

Jimmy Gould was on the House medical marijuana task force that was convened last year to create the state's medical marijuana law.

One of the three people who plans to build a medical marijuana campus in Southwest Ohio thinks thinks the drug can be used to treat one of the state’s biggest problems – opioid abuse. Jimmy Gould, an investor who also served on the task force that developed Ohio’s medical marijuana law, thinks pot can be used to relieve symptoms of withdrawal from opioid use. Under Ohio’s new law, medical marijuana isn’t approved for that purpose yet but Gould thinks it should be. “What they are doing is they are introducing a drug that is a natural plant that will definitely deal with those symptoms so one of the best things I can tell you is, assuming we are picked, we are going to go back in and ask for a condition for opiate withdrawal relief for those people who want to get off opioids,” Gould said.Gould said a research center is planned for the Wilmington campus he’s working on, to study different strains of marijuana for possible cures or treatments. Ohio leads the nation in overdose deaths from opioids. Copyright 2017 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

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