A proposal to alleviate the pain of being a Bengals and Browns fan has gone up in smoke.
Being a fan of the NFL’s franchises in Cincinnati and Cleveland does not meet the condition requirements to purchase medical marijuana, an Ohio medical board committee has ruled.
According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, the panel that met in Columbus turned down several petitions regarding conditions that could help Ohio residents take advantage of a 2016 law that allowed them to buy marijuana medicinally.
In December, being a “Browns/Bengals fan” was among the multiple petitions filed, according to the newspaper. In three of the past four years, one of those two franchises has been the worst in the NFL. The fandom was rejected among other petitions that lacked the required support to continue with the process.
The Browns were winless in 2017 and recently made their sixth head-coaching change since the start of the 2010 season. In southern Ohio, the Bengals finished with the league’s worst record for the first time since 2002.
Since Cleveland’s franchise was rebooted in 1999 after being moved to Baltimore, neither the Browns nor the Bengals have won a playoff game.
Over the past few years, both sets of fans have hoped that the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft could provide long-term relief for their problems. The Browns went first in 2017 and 2018, and the Bengals have the top pick in this April’s draft.