Articles by Julie Carr Smyth

Ohio Awards $2.4M in Opioid Science Challenge

Ohio awarded another round of prizes totaling $2.4 million in its global technology challenge seeking scientific breakthroughs to address the U.S. opioid crisis. The dozen winners from six states and Canada were judged the most promising of nearly 60 proposals …

Ohio Misses Sept. 8 Deadline to Launch Medical Marijuana Program

While Ohio blew past the deadline Saturday for rolling out its medical marijuana program, the pot industry is confident greener days are coming soon. It’s not uncommon for states’ marijuana programs to be delayed, sometimes for years, by legal, regulatory …

5 Winners Receive $10K Each in Ohio Opioid Science Challenge

Virtual reality, neural feedback and digital therapy were among five ideas to help solve the U.S. opioid crisis that won a global technology challenge in Ohio on Jan. 30. Winners were selected from hundreds of ideas submitted by researchers, caregivers, …

Ohio Restricts Back Surgery, Opioid Use for Injured Workers

Ohio residents with work-related back injuries in most cases must try remedies like rest, physical therapy and chiropractic care before turning to spinal fusion surgery and prescription painkillers under a groundbreaking new guideline that is partly meant to reduce the …

Ohio Imposes Restrictions on Injured Workers’ Back Surgery, Opioid Use

Ohio residents with work-related back injuries in most cases must try remedies like rest, physical therapy and chiropractic care before turning to spinal fusion surgery and prescription painkillers under a groundbreaking new guideline that is partly meant to reduce the …

Political Commentators File Suit over Ohio’s Online Harassment Ban

A group of liberal and conservative online political commentators in Ohio has filed a constitutional challenge to the state’s recently enacted law against internet harassment. A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland alleges a prohibition against …

Ohioans Concerned About Repeal of Federal Health Law

Ohio advocates of the federal health care law targeted by President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans said that repeal would jeopardize insurance coverage for as many as 1 million Ohioans by 2019 and hurt families and businesses. Their warnings came …

Ohio State Law Aims to Reduce ‘Zombie’ Vacant Properties

A new Ohio law is being viewed as a national model for eliminating zombies — zombie properties, that is. The measure that took effect on Sept. 28 speeds up foreclosures on vacant and abandoned properties, called zombies because they languish …

Pain Care Lobby Gave $3.5M in Ohio Political Donations as Opioid Deaths Climbed

As Ohio’s overdose epidemic has climbed toward a record high, an army of lobbyists representing makers of prescription painkillers and their allies poured more than $3.5 million into Ohio political coffers. Pharmaceutical companies and allied groups belonging to the Pain …

Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill Closer to Passage in Ohio

A proposal to legalize medical marijuana in Ohio has squeaked through a critical Senate panel over opposition of some Republicans and Democrats. The Senate Government Oversight & Reform Committee’s 7-to-5 vote sets the stage for probable passage of the bill …