When word began to spread on election night that Athens County – a long-time stronghold for Ohio marijuana legalization – was soundly defeating Issue 3 by nearly 30 percentage points the death knell for medical marijuana in the state became earsplitting.

The pro-legalization base in Ohio was mostly unified in their defiance of the oligopoly Issue 3 tried to create. An anti-corporate push back in the age of Occupy. The Free Press itself was critical of ResponsibleOhio and its big money investors who clearly had aspirations of astronomical profits for years to come.

But not all marijuana activists stood behind those who believed the issue was putting a massive marijuana industry in the hands of a few.

The activists who did support Issue 3 say the base’s outrage over marijuana corporatization may have blinded them. Building up enough contempt that it took away any compassion for the many Ohioans who use medical marijuana (illegally) for whatever ailment they have.

Army veteran Rocky Mesarosh of Dayton runs Ohio Veterans for Medical Marijuana, which has over 1,000 supporters on Facebook. He founded the organization in 2010 after he was honorably discharged from the service with complications from anxiety and PTSD.

He tried seeking help from the VA for his PTSD, but after admitting being a marijuana user, they essentially told him “to get lost”.

“In about five minutes my appointment was over,” he says. “I have never been back to the VA since.”

Through research and connecting with other Ohio veterans suffering from PTSD, he knew wholeheartedly these veterans were benefiting both mentally and physically from cannabis.

No one needs to be reminded that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are committing suicide at an alarming rate, estimated at over 20 per day. And in a desperate attempt to help, the VA is essentially force feeding them anti-psychotics and anti-depressants, which by the way have suicidal tendencies as a side effect. The Free Press’s own Gena Smith, a veteran of Iraq who suffers from both PTSD and MST (Military Sexual Trauma), has written extensively about the issue.

But veterans who use marijuana are doing so illegally and with the threat of losing their VA benefits, says Mesarosh. In Ohio, and depending on your VA clinic and VA physician, if a veteran tests positive for marijuana – still a federally designated Schedule 1 drug – he or she could lose certain medical benefits. 

So on election night when it began to sink in that not only were the usual anti-marijuana suspects reveling in the issue’s crushing defeat, but many Ohio marijuana activists were as well, it was painful to say the least, says Mesarosh.

Lost for now is the International Cannabinoid Institute Research Foundation’s proposed combat PTSD marijuana research facility for Licking County. Mesarosh says the only FDA approved physician to research medical marijuana for combat PTSD, Dr. Suzanne Sisley of University of Arizona School of Medicine, had promised to conduct research at the facility.

“I was very upset,” he says, “there were a lot of problems with the issue, but there were more good benefits than bad. They (marijuana base) may have been hoodwinked. There’s not that many cable companies or cell phone companies. Someone has to invest some money to make this happen.”

The number of Ohio veterans suffering from PTSD and using marijuana to cope is hard to gauge, and even Mesarosh says legalizing medicinal for veterans would not only be needed and compassionate, but also symbolic.

Perhaps forgotten or ignored during the Issue 3 debate, however, was a much larger population that is arguably equally in need of medical marijuana. More and more evidence is mounting that seniors can benefit for a variety of ailments, such chemotherapy side effects, arthritis, chronic pain and glaucoma, says Robert Platshorn, CEO and founder of The Silver Tour or Teaching Seniors the Benefits of Medical Marijuana.

Platshorn says even more eye-popping is this: In 2014 a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that very small doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) slows the production of beta-amyloids, a key contributor to the progression of Alzheimer’s.

Platshorn lives in Florida, but was very active trying to push for Issue 3. He says his company spoke with ResponsibleOhio and tried to convince them to run ads addressing seniors and promoting medicinal for seniors.

“The biggest mistake they (ResponsibleOhio) made was they did not address seniors or their serious concerns. Concerns for themselves, their children and their grand children,” he said. “In the end, they decided they didn’t need to reach out to seniors. My goal is to end cannabis prohibition. Seniors are key.”

National marijuana activist Russ Bellville was so hopeful legalization would pass in Ohio he hosted his 420RADIO.org from Woodlands tavern in Grandview. He says it was folly for ResponsibleOhio to focus most of its attention at young people. Young people don’t vote in large numbers on off-Presidential Election years, he says.

Nationally, he says, the momentum for legalization is still positive, but the Ohio loss doesn’t help, and it may tip future votes in prohibition’s direction.

“In rejecting legalization because the business model was flawed,” says Belville, “some reformers have ceded the moral high ground, since now it can be proven that for them, money concerns can outweigh the injustice of marijuana arrests and the lives of marijuana patients.”