In a first for Ohio legislators, House lawmakers passed a plan to legalize medical marijuana after a lengthy debate and hand wringing on both sides of the aisle.

After years of opposing plans to legalize marijuana, medicinal or otherwise, House lawmakers passed a plan 71-26 Tuesday. Members of GOP-controlled House – under pressure from two medical marijuana efforts shooting for the November ballot – talked seriously and passionately about medical marijuana for the first time.

Why now? Polls show Ohioans are much more interested in legalizing medical marijuana than the recreational drug. The bill's GOP sponsor Rep. Stephen Huffman, an emergency room physician from Tipp City, said this proposal is what's best for patients after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed to act.

"I am absolutely convinced that there is therapeutic value in medical marijuana," said Huffman, after reciting a portion of the Hippocratic Oath that physicians take to care for patients. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind."

For Rep. Dan Ramos, D-Lorain,...