Will Ohio vote on legal marijuana in November? Group submits signatures for proposal
Ohioans may decide in November whether the state should legalize recreational marijuana.
The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted over 222,000 signatures on Wednesday for a proposed law allowing adults to buy, possess and grow cannabis. Advocates have been working for over a year to put the proposal before voters as GOP leaders refuse to entertain an adult-use program.
Ohio legalized medical marijuana in 2016.
"There is a place for a medical program and an adult-use program to operate side by side," said Tom Haren, an attorney and spokesman for the coalition. "We have to make sure that we're doing right by patients while at the same time providing an alternative to those non-medical consumers who are looking for an alternative to the illicit market or driving to Michigan or bringing marijuana back from Chicago or Colorado."
What would the proposal do?
The measure would allow Ohioans age 21 and older to buy and possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis and 15 grams of concentrates. They could also grow up to six plants individually and no more than 12 in a household with multiple adults.
Products would be taxed 10%, with revenue going toward administrative costs, addiction treatment programs, municipalities with dispensaries and a social equity and jobs program. A certain number of cultivator and dispensary licenses would be reserved for participants in that program, which aims to help those who are disproportionately affected by the enforcement of current marijuana laws.
Now what?
The coalition's proposal is an initiated statute, which means it wouldn't be affected by the August ballot question to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments. Through that process, the Legislature had four months earlier this year to consider the proposed law. Once the clock expired, advocates were required to gather at least 124,046 voter signatures from 44 counties to submit to Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office.
And it's not a done deal yet. Election officials must verify the signatures by July 20 and determine if the group collected enough to make the ballot.
A Spectrum News/Siena College poll last year found 60% of Ohio voters strongly or somewhat support marijuana legalization, with Democrats, Black Ohioans and voters under age 50 most likely to overwhelmingly favor it. House lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill in May to legalize adult-use marijuana, but the odds of it passing are slim.
That's because Gov. Mike DeWine and Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, are staunchly opposed to a recreational program. Huffman has the power to block legislation in the Senate and hopes to become House speaker in the future − meaning he could continue stalling proposals to fully legalize cannabis.
“If I’m Senate president and have anything to say about it, we’re not going to vote on recreational marijuana,” Huffman said in April.
Since it's an initiated statute, lawmakers could repeal or change the law if it goes forward and passes in November. But Haren said he's not worried about that.
"We expect to pass with such a wide margin of victory in November that it will be a political mandate from Ohio voters," Haren said, "which in addition to the merits will make it very politically unfeasible to take any action to repeal it after we pass it."
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio marijuana: Group submits signatures for November ballot question
