A new patient advocate is being appointed to Ohio’s medical marijuana advisory board after House Speaker Larry Householder fired Bob Bridges from that post last week. Householder's new appointee has a business stake within the industry.
Cincinnati attorney Chris Stock wrote the constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana that voters rejected in 2015 and then served on the medical marijuana advisory task force that followed. The task force worked with lawmakers to developed the current medical marijuana program.
As the new and only patient advocate for the program’s advisory panel, Stock doesn’t agree with his predecessor that Ohio’s program is overly regulated.
“I don’t share a view that suggests that the state needs to relax regulations unduly," Stock says.
Stock is a part-owner of one of the state’s licensed large-scale marijuana growers, Riviera Creek Holdings LLC. A spokeswoman for Householder says Stock won’t be allowed to be part of any matter that directly impacts that business.
