ORGANIZATION NEWS:

* OPN Board Member Runs for State Representative

* OPN in the News Again

* Board Members Represent OPN at Ohio AIDS Coalition Meeting

* Chemical Bigotry

OHIO NEWS:

* High Times

NATIONAL NEWS:

* Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program

* U.S. Drug Company to Develop Inhaler for Legal Medi-Pot Pill

* Junk Science in the Journal of the American Medical Association

* Medical Marijuana Patients Confront DEA Chief

The following items are included in every OPNews:

* OPNews Disclaimer

* You Are Invited to OPN Meetings

* How to Get Your Information in OPNews

* How to be Removed from the OPNews List

* How To Contact Your State Representative And Senator

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OPN BOARD MEMBER RUNS FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

(Columbus, OH) Ken Schweickart, OPN Director of Development and co-founder, is certified to run in the Democratic Primary in the 22nd House District.  During the May 7 primary, Schweickart will square off against Gary Josephson in this Columbus district. The winner will face incumbent Republican Jim Hughes in the fall.

Schweickart’s progressive platform articulates his solutions for education, health, the economy, and the environment. Building on his strong background in drug policy reform, Schweickart also pledges to defend Ohio patients’ right to medical marijuana. "If I am elected to the 22nd House District, I will sponsor the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act."

A grass-roots activist for more than a half-dozen years, Schweickart has stood firm on his convictions for responsible drug policy. He continues to be a major voice in Ohio’s reform movement. In addition to his position on the OPN board, Ken Schweickart is the Executive Director for Drug Policy Education of Ohio, a Consultant for Ohio State University Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, and a Board Member of the Columbus Free Press.

For donations, ideas, and other ways to get involved in the campaign, call 614-265-VOTE or email dpeo@earthlink.net.  Schweickart welcomes donations of any amount up to $2,500. "Even a $15 donation will be put to good use, such as making signs and contacting constituents."

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OPN IN THE NEWS AGAIN

(Columbus, OH) OPN was featured in Columbus Alive’s March 14 article titled "Reefer madness: Statehouse politicians want to keep safe, effective medicine out of Ohioans’ hands."

The story overviews OPN’s efforts to gain sponsorship of the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act and features OPN Director of Development Ken Schweickart. Author Harvey Wasserman also provides compelling evidence about the therapeutic uses of marijuana and the reasons why the beneficial herb remains illegal today.

To view the article, go to http://www.columbusalive.com/2002/20020314/, choose "Commentary" and then click on the story, which is listed under "More Commentary."

NOTE: If you see OPN mentioned in the media, please notify editor@ohiopatient.net.

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BOARD MEMBERS REPRESENT OPN AT OHIO AIDS COALITION MEETING

By John Precup

(Columbus, OH) Our Feb. 24th presentation to the Columbus chapter of the Ohio AIDS Coalition’s board of directors went well. All OAC board members were given an information packet, which included a copy of OMMA 2002, Medical Marijuana Fact Sheet, Medical Marijuana Web Links, and an informative CD that contained video testimony from patients and medical professionals.

I led things off with an overview of the OPN, who and what we are and are not. I explained our mission and how we want to work with them to educate their patients/caregivers and medical providers.

I moved on to cover the OMMA and how it will protect their members and associates. They were updated on our lobbying efforts in Columbus to date. I ended by telling them, "We want to work with you to expand our alliance for the OMMA."

Mary Jane Borden then invited some questions from the board members. One asked about our progress in Columbus. Kevin Sullivan suggested a survey that asks how many HIV patients use cannabis. He also suggested the OPN apply to conduct a workshop at their upcoming state-wide conference in Cincinnati this year.

Ken Schweickart wound things up with some excellent points as to the other ways of ingesting cannabis besides smoking. He then stated their endorsement of the OMMA would go a long way for us (hopefully they understand that means their members too) in Columbus.

These board meetings are a great way to network with other organizations. We got our message out to no less than 15 board members and made some connections for future interaction.

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CHEMICAL BIGOTRY

By Mary Jane Borden

I'd like to introduce a new term into drug policy vernacular: chemical bigotry. We've endured the War on Drugs for more than thirty years and seen various threads of injustice weave through it. Until now, no wording has existed to label this injustice.

Webster's Dictionary defines bigot as one who is "obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices." Bigotry is a bigot in action.

What is chemical bigotry? It is the application of obstinate opinions, prejudices, and intolerance to those whose chemical profile appears one way versus those whose chemical profile appears another way. Essentially, drug testing is this chemical profile made physical.

Consider the parallels of chemical bigotry with bigotry based on race, sex, national origin, or sexual orientation. For example, great myths arose around those of different races, these myths transforming into stereotypes. These myths and stereotypes then influenced the passage of Jim Crow laws and segregation.

In a similar vein, great myths grew up surrounding the users of some drugs as if everyone would turn out like Cheech and Chong. Crack babies are a proven myth. Through these myths came stereotypes and from the stereotypes came bad policy. The roots of both racial discrimination and chemical discrimination are the same: bigotry that is born of stereotypes and myths.

Bigotry has a long and costly history. At its worst, bigotry produced slavery and Nazis. Because of some outward factor, groups of people became stigmatized and stereotyped resulting in disastrous social policy that begot war and death. In a similar vein, chemical bigotry as manifest through the War on Drugs has produced disastrous social policy: bloated prisons, crime, police brutality, civil war, loss of rights, and terrorism.

Some might say that chemical bigotry is different than other bigotry – and thus justifiable - because people chose to use drugs and thus alter their chemical profile. Remember, this same argument has been applied time and again to religion and sexual orientation in order to justify legal, social, and cultural sanctions.

Some might argue that a chemical-free human body is pure and virtuous, something worth striving for. The problem here is that we are all by our very nature a chemical composition. We can never be chemically-free. When we look at ourselves as a chemical spectrum, we can begin to see that we are making judgment calls of good or bad based simply on what we add to our baseline body chemistry. Someone who adds marijuana - bad. Someone who adds aspirin - good. It doesn't matter that, in terms of death rate, aspirin is more dangerous than marijuana. Chemical bigotry is at work.

Some might contend that chemical bigotry is justifiable because drugs themselves cause death and destruction. This might have a slight ring of truth if drug policies were evenly applied. But as a result of chemical bigotry, a substance like marijuana that is comparatively benign is banned while a substance like alcohol that is fairly dangerous is aggressively advertised. Further, since a regulated market approach to the distribution of what are now illegal drugs has never been tried, perhaps much of the death and destruction attributable to drugs actually finds its roots in drug prohibition. Bigotry will always try to prevent the introduction of new social policies.

Some might insist that eliminating chemical bigotry would induce social chaos. Everyone would be running around stoned conducting mayhem. Fearmongers said much the same about freeing the slaves or giving women the right to vote. Whether under the influence of drugs, too little sleep, or manic depression, bad behavior is simply bad behavior. Violence is still violence regardless of whether the perpetrator is black, gay, or Irish. Truly bad behavior which hurts others certainly deserves sanction. But, taking that extra leap to suggest that ingesting certain chemicals and not others engenders terrorism reveals the spirit of a bigot. Bigotry itself introduces far more social chaos than does its elimination.

Lest one sit back and say chemical bigotry doesn't apply to me, at some level this bigotry applies to all of us. All of us can become its victim. Those who use cannabis for whatever reason know chemical bigotry first hand. Likewise, patients who need more powerful pain relievers feel the stigma of chemical bigotry, as do those trying to kick opiates with methadone and hopes of heroin maintenance. Chemical bigotry extends outward beyond what are now illegal drugs. It demonizes the responsible social drinker and tobacco smoker. It isolates the problem drug or alcohol user forcing them to hide their problem and shun help. It compels users of legal drugs to reveal their private medical history, endure debilitating side effects, and even avoid helpful medications, lest chemical bigotry spotlight them. It touches all these individuals and their families and communities as well. Essentially, we are no longer defined by the content of our character and what we accomplish in life, but by our chemical composition at any particular time.

How do we fight chemical bigotry? Organizations like DrugSense/MAP (http://www.mapinc.org), the Simon Wiesenthal Center (http://www.weisenthal.com), or the Southern Poverty Law Center (http://www.splcenter.org), for example, fight bigotry by shedding light on it. DrugSense/MAP, in particular, does this by collecting articles on drug policy, identifying incidences of chemical bigotry, and promoting media activism to bring it out in the open. Essentially, DrugSense/MAP and other organizations focused on drug policy reform are to chemical bigotry what the Simon Wiesenthal Center is to anti-Semitism or the Southern Poverty Law Center is to racism.

Those who have been scarred by chemical bigotry along with those who believe that bigotry-based public policy is wrong form a vibrant and growing drug policy reform community. This community needs to understand that the great struggle in which it is engaged is not a war on the War on Drugs, but an age-old fight against bigotry. In doing so, better strategies and tactics can be developed to enable change. Reformers may also find that they share much in common with others who throughout history have fought in so many ways to remove bigotry's shackles.

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HIGH TIMES

Source: Cleveland Free Times, City Chatter section. Wed, 13 Mar 2002. Copyright: 2002 Cleveland Free Times Media. http://www.freetimes.com. This article is archived at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n463/a02.html?11249.

By Sandeep Kaushik

(Cleveland, OH) Did you catch the full-page ad in The New York Times on March 6, the open letter arguing that "seriously ill people should not be subject to arrest and imprisonment for using medical marijuana with their doctors' approval"? (Next to a picture of a gaunt elderly gentleman, a caption reads: "Walt could spend his final days in prison instead of a hospital.") Impressively, the letter, viewable at www.CompassionateAccess.org, is signed by celebrities and dignitaries names as disparate as those of William Buckley, Walter Cronkite, Oliver Stone and Joycelyn Elders and by more than 300 elected officials from 42 states.

And yes, Ohio is represented by four state legislators, including local figures Peter Lawson Jones, the new county commissioner (until last month a House member), and House assistant minority whip Dale Miller, a West Side rep. While our showing is relatively small tiny New Hampshire boasts 45 political signatories it proves that at least some Ohio pols have found the courage to stand up for what is right, especially now that around 70 percent of the American public agrees with their stance.

Or does it? Contacted by Chatter, Miller expressed no knowledge of the Times ad, and says he "did not sign" such a letter. He claims to being "pretty sympathetic" to the medical marijuana issue, in the sense that he hasn't taken a "final position" on it but wants to see it "fully debated." And he boldly asserts that, having been approached to co-sponsor such legislation at the state level, "I haven't offered to do so." An egregious error by the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, which shelled out $38,000 for the one-off public missive?

Hardly. An MPP rep assures Chatter that the organization has full documentation of Miller signing on, last August 18 to be exact.

So, is Dale running a little scared now that he is been outed for his support?

Or is he just having trouble remembering things?

We all know what may cause memory loss.

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CHRONIC CANNABIS USE IN THE COMPASSIONATE INVESTIGATIONAL NEW DRUG PROGRAM: AN EXAMINATION OF BENEFITS AND ADVERSE EFFECTS OF LEGAL CLINICAL CANNABIS

Source: Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Vol. 2(1) 2002. Copyright: 2002 The Haworth Press, Inc.

By: Ethan Russo, Mary Lynn Mathre, Al Byrne, Robert Velin, Paul J. Bach, Juan Sanchez-Ramos, Kristin A. Kirlin

ABSTRACT. The Missoula Chronic Clinical Cannabis Use Study was proposed to investigate the therapeutic benefits and adverse effects of prolonged use of "medical marijuana" in a cohort of seriously ill patients. Use of cannabis was approved through the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Cannabis is obtained from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and is utilized under the supervision of a study physician.The aim of this study is to examine the overall health status of 4 of the 7 surviving patients in the program. This project provides the first opportunity to scrutinize the long-term effects of cannabis on patients who have used a known dosage of a standardized, heat-sterilized quality-con-trolled supply of low-grade marijuana for 11 to 27 years.

Results demonstrate clinical effectiveness in these patients in treatingglaucoma, chronic musculoskeletal pain, spasm and nausea, and spasticity of multiple sclerosis. All 4 patients are stable with respect to their chronic conditions, and are taking many fewer standard pharmaceuticals than previously.

Mild changes in pulmonary function were observed in 2 patients,while no functionally significant attributable sequelae were noted in any other physiological system examined in the study, which included: MRI scans of the brain, pulmonary function tests, chest X-ray, neuropsychological tests, hormone and immunological assays, electroencephalography, P300 testing, history, and neurological clinical examination.

These results would support the provision of clinical cannabis to a greater number of patients in need. We believe that cannabis can be a safe and effective medicine with various suggested improvements in the existing Compassionate IND program.

[NOTE: You can view the entire article in .PDF format at: http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Chronic_Cannabis.pdf

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U.S. DRUG COMPANY TO DEVELOP INHALER FOR LEGAL MEDI-POT PILL

Source: NORML E-Zine. Volume 5, Issue 9, February 28, 2002. Text of archived stories is available at: http://www.norml.org/news/archives/index2002.shtml

(San Carlos, CA) The makers of the synthetic THC capsule Marinol - the only legal cannabinoid drug available in the United States - are developing a metered dose inhaler so that patients may consume the drug in ways other than oral administration, according to a Business Wire report released this week. Many doctors and patients criticize the effectiveness of Marinol because the drug doesn't take effect until two to four hours after administration.  Patients also complain that they have difficulty self-regulating Marinol and that the drug's psychoactivity is enhanced when it is swallowed.

"This decision is an acknowledgement from the scientific and pharmaceutical community that inhalation is a preferred and effective route of administration for marijuana cannabinoids," said Paul Armentano, Director of Publications and Research for The NORML Foundation and author of the white paper: "The Need for Medical Marijuana Despite the Availability of Synthetic THC." "Patients routinely say that they prefer marijuana inhalation over oral administration because whole-smoked marijuana is faster acting, less upsetting to their stomachs, easier to self-regulate and less psychoactive."

Because oral THC must first pass through the human liver, where a significant portion of the drug is biotransformed into other, more potent chemicals, it takes effect far more slowly than inhaled marijuana and is often more psychoactive.

GW Pharmaceuticals, a London based company developing non-synthetic medicinal marijuana extracts, has already developed technology that allows patients to administer cannabinoids in a sublingual (under-the-tongue) spray as an alternative to smoking or swallowing.

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JUNK SCIENCE IN THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

Source: The Marijuana Report. Friday, March 15, 2002. Published by Voter Power (www.voterpower.org).

A widely reported study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Wednesday, March 6, purported to find that long-term pot smoking impairs brain function. In particular, the research, carried out by Nadia Solowij, a PhD at the Australian National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sidney, purports to find memory loss and attention problems that "have the potential to" impact academic achievements, occupational proficiency, interpersonal relationships and daily functioning, according to authors.

However, a quick review by Voter Power of media reports and the article itself, "Cognitive Functioning of Long-Term Heavy Cannabis Users Seeking Treatment," to be archived in its entirety along with the Web version of this newsletter, suggests that the JAMA study is characterized by the same sort of blatant biases that have permeated other government-funded propaganda on the same topic previously published by JAMA. Here's a rather long list of specific problems:

* To "have the potential to" is another way of saying "may" or "might" -- it's an indicator that the discussion has moved to an entirely theoretical realm. Any scientist who hears the word "may" instinctively realizes the word also means "or may not," and realizes nothing is being proven and the discussion now isn't entirely about science.

* The 150 subjects in the three-city study (Seattle, Miami, and Farmington, Conn.) were being treated for dependence on weed. Such subjects [are not] a representative sample…

* Led by Solowij, the research team otherwise consisted of eight American psychiatrists, psychologists and drug treatment experts who work for the national Marijuana Treatment Project Research Group based in Connecticut. Such people are by definition biased; their incomes and professional reputations are dependent on their finding harm in marijuana use…

* Funded by the U.S. government… the study was apparently designed for its impact as ephemeral propaganda. …An editorial in the same March 6 issue of JAMA denigrates the study's assumptions, pointing out its many methodological flaws and giving the appearance that even the magazine's editors were gagging over the other specious crap they were publishing in the same issue. As the AMA and U.S. government no doubt hoped, however, the mass media generally ignored the JAMA editorial repudiating its own bogus science and stuck to reports perpetuating the popular stereotype. It was only in an e-mail to the San Francisco Chronicle that Solowij admitted "effects generally appeared to be modest" and "It is probably unlikely that the impairments would be permanent." This sort of information would likely have been included in an objective assessment…

* The report states "Assessors were not blinded with regard to group assignment." That is, the study didn't incorporate double-blind methodology to prevent assessors from knowing which subject group members they were assessing, and thus possibly affecting both subjects' and assessors' behavior…

* The study was based on only 51 long-term marijuana smokers, a small group for research purporting to accurately gauge the relative mnemonic capacity of a large but illegal social subgroup that extends throughout the United States. The study says, "Excluding all participants with histories of regular other drug or alcohol use, dependence or treatment, and controls with any history of regular cannabis use within the past 20 years reduced the sample to 27 long-term users." Unlike the heavy pot users, who came from three sites, the 33 control subjects were "recruited from the general population through media advertisements at only one site."

* Solowij, who helped design the project and analyzed its data, said the research subjects were not "dependent" on drugs other than cannabis. Although some drug-testing of subjects occurred, most of their drug histories were self-reported, and those who were on or had been on pharmaceutical drugs, including psychiatric medications, were not excluded. In the JAMA editorial critiquing Solowij's study, Dr. Harrison Pope Jr., who authored research as dubious as Solowij's in JAMA in February 1996 (see http://www.pdxnorml.org/022296.html#bdo and http://www.pdxnorml.org/022996.html#mjf), but now seems to have grown more skeptical, acknowledges that even moderate use of other drugs would be a "confounding variable" likely to significantly affect subjects' memories and thus the study's conclusions.

* Solowij's use of the phrase "habitual users" seems to betray a moralistic projection rather than objective characterization of "chronic" or "daily" behavior etc. that may not necessarily be "habitual."

* Dr. Pope also notes the study's conclusions might be affected if some of the subjects already had impaired memories as a symptom of psychiatric problems such as anxiety or depression. Subjects were not screened for pre-existing mental conditions. He also observes that "individuals seeking clinical treatment for cannabis dependence might exhibit higher levels of depression, anxiety, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder than other cannabis users, and all of these psychiatric syndromes produce deficits on neuropsychological testing. Some cannabis users seek treatment because they have gotten into trouble with the law and so might have higher levels of antisocial behavior than other users. Antisocial behavior is also linked to neuropsychological deficits. . . .[C]omparisons between the groups were performed without adjustment for sex, and some comparisons were also performed without adjustment for age. . . . [A]ge differed to a significant degree between study groups and is also highly associated with cognitive function. For example, on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, where Solowij et al demonstrated the largest cannabis-associated deficits, both increased age and male sex have been shown to be associated with poorer performance, but the effect sizes shown in Table 3 of the study were not adjusted for either age or sex…. 47% of the long-term cannabis users also had a history of regular use of, dependence on, or treatment for alcohol or other drugs besides cannabis." Dr. Pope dismissed the report's finding that memory deficits increased in correlation with years of cannabis exposure: "The numerous potential confounding variables make it difficult to determine whether cognitive impairments are attributable to cannabis use or due to other factors."

* Dr. Pope, who directs the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, notes in his editorial, "Another recent study from our laboratory . . . found virtually no significant differences between 108 heavy cannabis users and 72 controls -- screened to exclude those with psychiatric disorders, medication use, or any history of significant use of other drugs or alcohol -- on a battery of 10 neuropsychological tests after 28 days of supervised abstinence. . . . The jury is still out on the question of whether long-term marijuana use causes lasting impairment in brain function."…

* An article about the study that appeared in the Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan student newspaper, quoted Charles Goodman, the chair of Hemp A2, a university "pro-legalization group," saying "They do produce some evidence; however, other studies by Harvard and the American Journal of Epidemiology [a 1999 study of 1,300 volunteers -- ed.] find the opposite…

* The March 9 New Scientist story on the JAMA report says its "findings are contradicted by others that have revealed no long-term effects."…

* The 1998 New Scientist article reports that for 25 years, Jack Fletcher at the University of Texas in Houston and his colleagues have been visiting Costa Rica to test the mental skills of very heavy users. Although some of them have smoked 10 joints a day for more than 30 years, their ability to learn and remember lists of words is only mildly impaired. Even when struggling with more demanding tasks, such as recalling information while pressing a tapper as fast as possible, their scores fall well within the normal range.

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS CONFRONT DEA CHIEF: CANCER PATIENT ASKS, "SHOULD I BE ARRESTED?" HUTCHINSON DOESN'T ANSWER

Source: Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org) Press Release. March 18, 2002.

(Rockville, Maryland) Medical marijuana patients, frustrated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's contradictory and sometimes inaccurate statements regarding medical marijuana, confronted DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson during an appearance in Rockville, Maryland, this evening [March 18]. Hutchinson left the event early in an apparent attempt to avoid further questioning.

Hutchinson appeared at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Rockville's Montrose Crossing shopping center, in what was advertised as a "community discussion" with Cindy Mogil, author of "Swallowing a Bitter Pill: How Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Abuse is Ruining Lives -- My Story".

Lawrence Silberman, who found that marijuana was the only medicine that allowed him to endure the harsh side effects of high-dose chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma -- a lethal and difficult-to-treat form of cancer -- asked Hutchinson directly, "Do you think people like myself should be arrested, sir?"

Hutchinson responded vaguely, saying "the DEA is not in the habit of going after individual users." He repeatedly failed to answer directly, despite follow-ups from Bruce Mirken, director of communications of the Marijuana Policy Project, and Fernando Mosquera, a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park. Mosquera described how marijuana helped him cope with the debilitating symptoms of Crohn's disease in a poignant column in the March 11 Baltimore Sun.

Hutchinson repeated claims that "science has not yet come to consensus" on the advantages of marijuana -- similar to claims he made in justifying February DEA raids on medical marijuana providers in California. He did not acknowledge the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, commissioned by the White House drug czar's office, which stated, "Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety ... all can be mitigated by marijuana." The report pointed out that "there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana" -- and urged that marijuana be made legally available to such patients on a case-by-case basis.

Hutchinson then took advantage of the first pause in the proceedings to leave early, heading for the stairs without good-byes or acknowledgments of any kind.

"Ms. Mogil eloquently discussed the dangers of drugs that doctors legally prescribe every day -- drugs that are far more toxic and addictive than marijuana, which has never produced a fatal overdose," said Mirken…

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The following items are included in every OPNews:

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OPNews DISCLAIMER

OPNews, a publication of Ohio Patient Network (OPN), provides medical cannabis news that affects Ohio patients, caregivers, and health professionals. Articles are intended for information purposes and do not reflect an official position by OPN or the OPN Board of Directors.

For more information, contact Jean Taddie, Editor (editor@ohiopatient.net).

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YOU ARE INVITED TO OPN MEETINGS

The OPN Board of Directors invites you to participate in the OPN planning meetings. Electronic voice/text meetings are held at the OPN chatroom in PalTalk.

To receive PalTalk and meeting room instructions, as well as date and time information, contact info@ohiopatient.net.

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HOW TO GET YOUR INFORMATION IN OPNews

OPNews is published monthly. To have your information considered for publication, submit your story to editor@ohiopatient.net.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS. Please do not boldface or italicize text. Include a contact name with a phone number and/or e-mail address with submissions.

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HOW TO BE REMOVED FROM THE OPNews LIST

You may sign off this list at any time by using the webform at www.ohiopatient.net.

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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR 

Find your Representative in the Ohio House at http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp

Find your Ohio Senator at http://www.senate.state.oh.us/senators/

Write to your officials care of their district office, or send your letter to their Columbus office at:

The Honorable (name)

Ohio House of Representatives

77 South High Street

Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603

-or-

The Honorable (name)

Ohio Senate Building

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Telephone calls and emails are also persuasive, especially when the constituent contacts the district office.