It has been a grim year for football fans in Ohio. The Cincinnati Bengals ended the regular season with the worst record in the NFL after losing 14 out of 16 games while the Cleveland Browns did not fare much better.
They finished third in the AFC North with a 6-10 record and ended the season with three consecutive defeats. Now a petition has been submitted to the State Medical Board requesting that fans of either team should automatically condition for medical marijuana prescriptions.
The petition suggested 28 new medical conditions that could effectively be treated by marijuana, including anxiety, depression, autism, depression, HIV/AIDS, insomnia, and “Bengals/Browns fans”.
NBA team Cleveland Cavaliers remain in the doldrums after star player LeBron James left for LA, and they are marooned in 14th in the Eastern Conference after a run of five straight defeats. The Columbus Blue Jackets are also languishing near the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, so perhaps Cavaliers/Blue Jackets fans could have been added to the list.
This is clearly a tongue-in-cheek request and it will certainly be struck down when a board committee reviews the petitions next month. However, there is a chance of the list of qualifying conditions in Ohio being expanded to include conditions like anxiety and depression.
There are currently 21 conditions eligible for medical marijuana treatment in the state, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, chronic pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and Tourette Syndrome.
Each year there is a petition period to request the addition of a medical condition to Ohio’s qualifying condition list. Last year’s petition period took place from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.
It will now be up to the committee to assess whether being a Bengals or a Browns fan or being afflicted with the other genuine medical conditions should go on the list in future. Those that gain approval from this committee will be put to the full State Medical Board for a final vote, which is anticipated to take place in the summer.
Last year, the board rejected petitions to add anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.
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