Ohio to vote on legalizing marijuana November 3.
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Ohio to vote on legalizing marijuana
Anne Saker, The Cincinnati Enquirer5:07 p.m. EDT August 12, 2015
(Photo: File)
CINCINNATI — Ohio voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to legalize marijuana with a constitutional amendment to institute a revolutionary proposal that backers say will create a billion-dollar industry in the next four years.
Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday the private investor group ResponsibleOhio had collected 320,267 signatures of registered voters, 14,676 more than necessary to qualify for the general-election ballot. ResponsibleOhio has spent more than $2 million since March on the petition drive to put its proposed amendment before voters.
After Husted certified the petition result, Ian James, the group's executive director, issued a statement:
"It's time for marijuana legalization in Ohio, and voters will have the opportunity to make it happen this November — we couldn't be more excited. ... By reforming marijuana laws in November, we'll provide compassionate care to sick Ohioans, bring money back to our local communities and establish a new industry with limitless economic development opportunities."
The Ohio Ballot Board is scheduled to meet Aug. 18 to determine ResponsibleOhio's ballot language.
The ambitious campaign by ResponsibleOhio is the best-financed effort in the nation’s history to push back against the 1937 federal ban on marijuana. If voters say yes, the Buckeye State will be the sixth and, with nearly 11.6 million residents, the most populous jurisdiction to legalize marijuana, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia.
ResponsibleOhio’s investors have pledged to spend $20 million in the 83 days until Nov. 3 on a sophisticated election effort, including a bus tour, Internet advertising, television and radio advertising, voter registration drives and door-to-door canvassing.
The group’s televised pitches began Aug. 6 during a nationally broadcast debate of Republican primary candidates in Cleveland, before all the petition signatures had been counted.
But what could be the biggest hurdle to legalization also is on the Nov. 3 ballot. In June, the Ohio Legislature quickly wrote and placed on the ballot a measure that would prohibit “a monopoly, oligopoly or cartel” in Ohio, especially involving any federally controlled substance, such as marijuana.
Husted has said that if voters pass both measures, the legislative initiative would take precedence, although ResponsibleOhio disputes that evaluation. If both measures pass, the dispute will go to court.
James and proponents of the Marijuana Legalization Amendment say a legal industry would produce economic and social benefits and save the millions of dollars now spent policing the black market and imprisoning people for low-level offenses.
A ResponsibleOhio task force, led by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, has forecast that a legal industry in Ohio could generate more than $2 billion a year by 2020.
The most controversial aspect of ResponsibleOhio’s proposal is a limit on the cultivation of the commercial crop to 10 farms, which are named in the amendment. Opponents have called this structure a monopoly, meaning owned by one, although the correct economic term is oligopoly, meaning owned by a few.
The farms have been purchased or put under purchase option by at least 20 wealthy investors, including reality-TV star Nick Lachey, former NBA star Oscar Robertson, NFL player Frostee Rucker, local philanthropist Barbara Gould, fashion designer and Youngstown native Nanette Lapore, Covington beer and wine distributor Jennifer Doering and two descendants of President William Howard Taft, Woody and Dudley Taft Jr.
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Will be legalized gambling yet not every bar can have a slot machine so...
WSS
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Good. Hopefully it passes.
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As little bit of a shit as I could possibly give it is funny to hear the lefties whine about somebody making money from this stupid shit.
WSS
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
People can make money off of anything. That's not a bad thing.
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People can make money off of anything. That's not a bad thing.
I agree. So you are unaware of the backlash against this bill?
WSS
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No worse than booze. Legalize it and treat it as you would alcohol or tobacco.
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Not entirely familiar with whether the amendment bypasses or requires approval from the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate, but from what I've heard from one of the two physicians in the House, the likelihood of this passing them is zero. The house chair is far too conservative to allow for it.
The evidence for clinical efficacy is mixed per a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26103030
As for me, I'm inclined to vote for it as it's taking money away from the cartels, but I do share concerns about it creating a monopoly like we have with the casinos. Here's a Time article about the controversy: http://time.com/3921751/ohio-marijuana-ballot-measure/
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As if drunk driving and heart disease didn't keep the population low enough.
WSS
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Deadly Funyun runs will be a leading cause of death.
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How does getting high lead to the same dangers as heart disease and drunk driving?
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I don't think he was making that point but I could be wrong.How does getting high lead to the same dangers as heart disease and drunk driving?
Time to legalize this shit. It is not healthy but neither is booze and cigs. Weed is safer than alchohol, not addictive like cigs, and it is giving money to drug cartels. It makes sense so clearly our government is going to go against all reason.
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Amen
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Booze leads to drunk driving cigarettes lead to heart attack weed leads to whatever it leads to. You couldn't figure that out? You're just adding one more buzz to the other two.How does getting high lead to the same dangers as heart disease and drunk driving?
WSS
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Weed leads to cocaine, crack, meth, heroin and death. Plus weight gain and laziness.
http://www.webmd.com/news/breaking-news/marijuana-on-main-street/is-marijuana-safe-web?page=2
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Right, but what does it lead to? What makes it dangerous? What negative affect of weed is comparable to those two?
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So you agree drunk driving is bad correct? So you think it would be better if we still have drunk driving and up the ante with stoned driving?
In your zeal I think you're forgetting we already have the first two negatives with pot you will just have a third negative. That's all. Unless you think there is absolutely no downside to smoking pot.
And if that's the case then it doesn't matter. Even if it is the case I think people should be free to be stupid.
But I still don't want to see people who can't cope with the real world and have to be taken care of by the government spend that money on cigarettes booze or weed. I think that's a fair request.
(But that's another issue)
WSS
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I'm just saying I think the adverse health affects of weed don't come close to those of alcohol or cigarettes.
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You're nuts.
Or high.
Or blinded by a desire to be hip.
Fucked up driving is fucked up driving.
Booze weed oxy....
Maybe blow is safer. ..
WSS
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