The Ohio Patient Network held its Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 31, 2008, at the offices of the Columbus Free Press at 1000 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH. Forty-three people participated in this meeting to elect the organization's officers for the coming year. 

After the meeting, OPN Past President, Mary Jane Borden commented, "This is a very special board. Well over half of the original co-founders came together to seat this board, which includes three of them in the positions of President, Vice President, and Treasurer." Board President Brandy Zink said that she looks forward to setting the organization on a course to better achieve its goals and be of service to patients. "With the introduction of the Ohio Medical Compassion Act, there is a greater need for educational resources from a credible, professional organization such as the Ohio Patient Network.

Now you can make your voice heard in Ohio's medical marijuana debate while helping to fund a great cause. OPN is rolling out paid memberships. We have two introductory membership levels: Individual ($15) and family ($25). We're temporarily keeping these fees as low as possible so that everyone who can afford to join or wants to join can do so. Membership is good for one year. You will be notified as your membership is due to expire.

More than 30 states passed medical marijuana bills in the 1970s and '80s, including Wisconsin, but all of those left the responsibility of supplying the marijuana up to the federal government.

(modified from the www.compassionatecanadians.com "Virtual Medical Marijuana March on Ottawa" website)

This Medical Cannabis Patients Bill of Rights was designed to outline the basic rights of critically and chronically ill medical cannabis patients, and to urge the federal government to protect these individuals from stigma, arrest and prosecution.

a. I should not be a criminal; I am a person living with a medical condition and use cannabis to alleviate my suffering; I am capable of making fundamental decisions about my health.

b. I should have the right to live free of unnecessary suffering, social stigma and interference from the state, and should not have to chose between my personal liberty and my health.

c. I should have the right to produce my own medicine if I am willing and able to do so, or to access it from a safe source without fear of arrest and persecution.

d. It is the federal government's moral, legal and constitutional obligation to defend these basic and inalienable human rights, and to ensure that no organization or individual unduly interferes with them.