Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Friday approved the ballot language for a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana in Ohio.
If the Marijuana Legalization Amendment proposed by the Columbus-based group ResponsibleOhio wins approval by the Ohio Ballot Board and raises the necessary 305,591 valid signatures, the question will be on the ballot Nov. 3.
Mr. DeWine, who opposes the legalization effort, made it clear he was approving merely the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed law.
ResponsibleOhio's proposal would legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use by adults 21 and older. It would allow residents to grow up to four plants, with a license and under restricted conditions, and it would award exclusive growing rights to 10 investor groups that are backing the campaign.
Review by the Ohio Ballot Board is expected to take about two weeks. The board decides whether the amendment should be one question or multiple questions.
"We are very happy with today's news," ResponsibleOhio spokesman Lydia Bolander said. "Voters deserve a thoughtful conversation on this important issue, and we are eager to continue this conversation in the coming months."
ResponsibleOhio's investor groups each have pledged $4 million to a campaign aimed at passing the question. The groups would be awarded licenses to grow marijuana on specific parcels of land identified in the amendment. One parcel is a 28.5-acre field along Hagman Road in North Toledo. Growers would sell to processors and retailers.
The amendment also creates a seven-member Marijuana Control Commission with power to award additional growing licenses if the market demands. If an initial grower shuts down or is closed by the commission, it can license a new location not listed in the amendment.
ResponsibleOhio said its proposal calls for stringent regulation, testing, and taxing of marijuana, and strict prohibitions on people under 21 gaining access. The group claims its plan would generate $554 million a year in taxes by the time the market stabilizes in 2020.
"Marijuana prohibition has failed," Ms. Bolander said.
Black Ohio residents are far more likely, she said, to be arrested for marijuana offenses than white Ohioans, and medical patients are denied access to treatments that could ease their suffering. Ms. Bolander said Ohio spends about $120 million a year to enforce "bad laws."
Jonathan Allison, the Columbus attorney representing the Drug Free Action Alliance, labeled the group a "pot cartel."
"What they want to put in our state constitution is centered on a singular theme and desire, and it is, purely and simply, greed," Mr. Allison said. "This starts and ends with constitutionally protected cartel monopolies owning the marijuana market. When they feign interest in home growers or the sick, ask the cartel investors if their hearts would be in this without a constitutionally guaranteed return on investment."
He disputed ResponsibleOhio's tax-revenue projections, saying the casino amendment campaign in 2009 promised $600 million in annual taxes and produced less than half that in 2014.
Opposition is also building among pro-marijuana groups. Several groups met Sunday in Columbus and organized under the name Citizens Against Responsible Ohio, said Aaron Weaver of Vermilion, Ohio, the group's president. He said the measure creates an "instant monopoly" that shuts out small growers.
Mr. Weaver objected to language he said is too strong, such as a section classifying any sharing of pot with someone under 21 to be child endangerment, even sharing between two 20-year-olds.
Ms. Bolander said the ResponsibleOhio plan does not create a monopoly, and it provides many legal avenues to marijuana access.
Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational pot use. Ohio could be the first state to go directly from no legal possession to legal recreational use without the medical step.
A Michigan group called the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee is hoping to put a recreational marijuana question on the 2016 ballot.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: DeWine OKs marijuana ballot language - Toledo Blade
Author: Tom Troy
Contact: tomtroy@theblade.com
Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson
Website: The Blade
If the Marijuana Legalization Amendment proposed by the Columbus-based group ResponsibleOhio wins approval by the Ohio Ballot Board and raises the necessary 305,591 valid signatures, the question will be on the ballot Nov. 3.
Mr. DeWine, who opposes the legalization effort, made it clear he was approving merely the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed law.
ResponsibleOhio's proposal would legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use by adults 21 and older. It would allow residents to grow up to four plants, with a license and under restricted conditions, and it would award exclusive growing rights to 10 investor groups that are backing the campaign.
Review by the Ohio Ballot Board is expected to take about two weeks. The board decides whether the amendment should be one question or multiple questions.
"We are very happy with today's news," ResponsibleOhio spokesman Lydia Bolander said. "Voters deserve a thoughtful conversation on this important issue, and we are eager to continue this conversation in the coming months."
ResponsibleOhio's investor groups each have pledged $4 million to a campaign aimed at passing the question. The groups would be awarded licenses to grow marijuana on specific parcels of land identified in the amendment. One parcel is a 28.5-acre field along Hagman Road in North Toledo. Growers would sell to processors and retailers.
The amendment also creates a seven-member Marijuana Control Commission with power to award additional growing licenses if the market demands. If an initial grower shuts down or is closed by the commission, it can license a new location not listed in the amendment.
ResponsibleOhio said its proposal calls for stringent regulation, testing, and taxing of marijuana, and strict prohibitions on people under 21 gaining access. The group claims its plan would generate $554 million a year in taxes by the time the market stabilizes in 2020.
"Marijuana prohibition has failed," Ms. Bolander said.
Black Ohio residents are far more likely, she said, to be arrested for marijuana offenses than white Ohioans, and medical patients are denied access to treatments that could ease their suffering. Ms. Bolander said Ohio spends about $120 million a year to enforce "bad laws."
Jonathan Allison, the Columbus attorney representing the Drug Free Action Alliance, labeled the group a "pot cartel."
"What they want to put in our state constitution is centered on a singular theme and desire, and it is, purely and simply, greed," Mr. Allison said. "This starts and ends with constitutionally protected cartel monopolies owning the marijuana market. When they feign interest in home growers or the sick, ask the cartel investors if their hearts would be in this without a constitutionally guaranteed return on investment."
He disputed ResponsibleOhio's tax-revenue projections, saying the casino amendment campaign in 2009 promised $600 million in annual taxes and produced less than half that in 2014.
Opposition is also building among pro-marijuana groups. Several groups met Sunday in Columbus and organized under the name Citizens Against Responsible Ohio, said Aaron Weaver of Vermilion, Ohio, the group's president. He said the measure creates an "instant monopoly" that shuts out small growers.
Mr. Weaver objected to language he said is too strong, such as a section classifying any sharing of pot with someone under 21 to be child endangerment, even sharing between two 20-year-olds.
Ms. Bolander said the ResponsibleOhio plan does not create a monopoly, and it provides many legal avenues to marijuana access.
Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational pot use. Ohio could be the first state to go directly from no legal possession to legal recreational use without the medical step.
A Michigan group called the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee is hoping to put a recreational marijuana question on the 2016 ballot.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: DeWine OKs marijuana ballot language - Toledo Blade
Author: Tom Troy
Contact: tomtroy@theblade.com
Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson
Website: The Blade
