PORTSMOUTH—On Monday David Mahan, CCV Policy Director, testified before the Ohio Senate Addiction and Community Revitalization Committee, urging its members not to support any expansion of marijuana access. In his testimony, Mahan dispelled the myth that there are two separate marijuana industries—a medical and a recreational—but rather one massive addiction-for-profit industry.

“There are two sides to a P&L—profit and loss,” Mahan said. “Ignoring one for the promise of the other will almost certainly prove disastrous for communities.”

Remarking specifically on Senate Bill 261, which aims to increase the maximum THC limit and make medical marijuana accessible to just about anybody, Mahan noted that though the bill is touted as a medical marijuana expansion bill, it is interesting that it has very little support from the medical, law enforcement, and addiction recovery communities.

“That’s because marijuana is not medicine, and flooding Ohio communities with 70-90% psychosis-inducing THC products in the middle of a mental-health crisis is sheer insanity,” Mahan said.

The Ohio Senate Addiction and Community Revitalization Committee was formed recently to address legislative solutions to the opioid addiction epidemic that has ravaged the state, particularly the neighborhoods of southern Ohio.

Though legislative committees typically meet in the statehouse in downtown Columbus, this committee hearing was held at Shawnee State University in the city of Portsmouth, which has come to be known as ground zero for Ohio’s drug-addiction crisis.

Watch David’s testimony here.

Read David’s testimony here.

As Ohio’s largest Christian public policy organization, Center for Christian Virtue seeks the good of our neighbors by advocating for public policy that reflects the truth of the Gospel. 

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