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Attachment II WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF REBECCA MYERS IN SUPPORT OF H.B.523 PRESENTED TO OHIO SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT AND REFORM CHAIRMAN BILL COLEY MAY 24, 2016 Chairman Coley, Vice Chairman Seitz, Ranking Member Yuko and members of the Committee, my name is Rebecca Myers, and I intend to submit this testimony in support of H.B.523. I am currently the Principal of Shaw Road LLC, a boutique healthcare consulting firm. I am also the Founder and CEO of FARMACEUTICALRX, a startup Organization focused in the Medical Cannabis Sector. The Mission of FARMACEUTICALRX is to Bring Healthcare, Science & Innovation to the Medical Cannabis Sector. That said, I am here today not so much to tell you about our Company, FARMACEUTICALRX, but to talk with you about aspects of the bill that should be amended before passage. On March 31, 2016, I testified before the Ohio House of Representatives’ Medical Marijuana Task Force about where the Medical Cannabis industry could go and likely will go. I have included a copy of that written testimony attached to my comments about H.B.523 so that you have my full details about my background as well as my views on the benefits to the patients, and the opportunities and challenges to the medical cannabis industry. Attachment 1. I will give you a brief synopsis of my background before talking about the bill: (1) I grew up just across the border in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. (2) I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of NY, the State of Florida and multiple federal courts, and I am admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. (3) I have law enforcement experience as a former Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. (4) I was an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Lehman College in NY. (5) Following my experience in public service, I began my corporate career working with Carl Icahn at Trans World Airlines, where I handled global regulatory and security matters and led the Company’s customer service teams, during which I also worked on TWA’s then-purchase of Pan Am Express. (7) In 1994, I entered the Healthcare sector, where I have spent the past 22 years of my professional career. (8) I have held executive leadership positions with national and international healthcare companies in multiple segments of the healthcare industry. I have extensive experience growing and operating companies in highly regulated industries. I have extensive M&A and capital market experience. I helped run the largest independent pharmacy management company in the country, prior to the company’s sale to Express Scripts. I helped run two national behavioral healthcare companies. I led one of the largest home care companies in the country. I worked in the national and international consumer healthcare sectors during a short tenure with Optum Healthcare. I have also been doing extensive work, through my healthcare consulting firm, Shaw Road LLC, with a large private equity backed national specialty pharmacy company as well as the second largest operator of outpatient addiction treatment centers in the country. I have been “diligencing” the Medical Cannabis industry for the past three years. Concerning Sub.H.B.523, there are a few areas of concern that the General Assembly should address before passage, three of which I will speak to today. First, the bill should not give the rule-making body – regardless of whether it’s the Pharmacy Board or a Medical Marijuana Control Commission – the discretion and authority to force a business to relocate if a school, church, library or park is established within 1,000 feet of its operations after its operations have begun. (Line 654). This is not workable. There are examples in which antagonists in other industries can intentionally open "day care centers", for example, near methadone clinics solely for the purpose of triggering similar provisions. Companies will be signing binding long term lease commitments for property to use for operating centers (growing and processing) as well as for retail dispensing centers. In addition, tenant improvement dollars in our model approach $500,000 for our operating center and $225,000 for retail centers. Developing a framework for commerce that retroactively exposes businesses to relocation after they have make these types of investments and entered into long term lease obligations does not make sense from multiple angles. The bill should unequivocally prohibit the rule- making body from enacting such a rule. Second, the bill should specifically permit licensed processors and cultivators to conduct their own quality standards testing of their own products in addition to being subject to state-mandated testing requirements. (Line 1015) This promotes quality improvement and purity standards, and product development improvement. Under the bill, it is not clear that this is permitted by anyone other than testing labs. As a corollary to that, the bill should specifically permit vertically integrated licenses. This is the best way for high end therapeutics focused companies to control product quality and reproducibility, which is essential for clinical research. The bill needs to specifically provide for a "clinical registrant" type of licensure for companies that are affiliated with health plans and medical centers in the State of Ohio and who are vertically integrated, similar to Pennsylvania’s new law. This will specifically carve out a place in Ohio for these medically focused science based entities that will work collaboratively with research and healthcare entities in the State. The State wants to promote this type of collaboration, affiliation and innovation. Third, the bill should include a reference as to how the electronic database contents will be treated for HIPPA and public records purposes. (Line 735). 2 Other areas of the bill are worth noting. The State should allow for pills, tinctures, topicals, lozenges, patches, vaporization and other inhalation therapies, forms and creams. Allowing the rule-making body to approve, upon petition, additional forms or methods of using medical marijuana is a good alternative in the sub-bill. There is currently no limit on the number of licensed growers, processors, cultivators and retail dispensers, which may become problematic. Finally, the financial institution safe harbor language should include an affirmative statement that the State seek cooperation from the Federal banking agencies. Thank you for the opportunity to present this information to you. I appreciate the work that you are undertaking. I welcome the opportunity to answer questions of the committee. 3 Attachment I WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF REBECCA MYERS PRESENTED TO OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MEDICINAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE CHAIRMAN KIRK SCHURING March 31, 2016 Chairman Schuring, Representative Huffman, Representative Ramos and members of the Task Force, my name is Rebecca Myers, and I intend to present my vision for the future of the medical cannabis industry. I am currently the Principal of Shaw Road LLC, a boutique healthcare consulting firm. I am also the Founder and CEO of FARMACEUTICALRX, a startup Organization focused in the Medical Cannabis Sector. The Mission of FARMACEUTICALRX is to Bring Healthcare, Science & Innovation to the Medical Cannabis Sector. That said, I am here today not so much to tell you about our Company, FARMACEUTICALRX, but to talk with you about where this industry can go and where I believe it will go. My Background: A little about my background: (1) I grew up just across the border in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. (2). I was a full scholarship Division 1 Basketball player at Fordham University in New York; (3) I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of NY, the State of Florida and multiple federal courts, and I am admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. (4) I have law enforcement experience. I started my professional career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. (5) During my tenure as a prosecutor, I also served as an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Lehman College in NY. (6) Following my experience in public service, I began my corporate career working with Carl Icahn at Trans World Airlines, where I handled global regulatory and security matters and led the Company’s customer service teams. I also worked with Carl on M & A matters, including the purchase of Pan Am Express. (7) After my tenure with TWA in 1994, I entered the Healthcare sector, where I have spent the past 22 years of my professional career. (8) I have held executive leadership positions with national and international healthcare companies in multiple segments of the healthcare industry. I have extensive experience growing and operating companies in highly regulated industries. I have extensive M&A and capital market experience. I helped run the largest independent pharmacy management company in the country, prior to the company’s sale to Express Scripts. I helped run two national behavioral healthcare companies. I led one of the largest home care companies in the country. I worked in the national and international consumer healthcare sectors during a short tenure with Optum Healthcare. I have also been doing extensive work, through my healthcare consulting firm, Shaw Road LLC, with a large private equity backed national specialty pharmacy company as well as the second largest operator of outpatient addiction treatment centers in the country. I have been “diligencing” the Medical Cannabis industry for the past three years. During this period of time, I have learned a lot about where this industry has been. More importantly, I have learned even more about where this industry can go. I. Visions for the Future of the Medical Cannabis Industry: Your responsibility is great, and the opportunity here in the State of Ohio is even greater.