Officials from the state of Ohio say that the campaign to legalize marijuana in Ohio is only 679 signatures away from qualifying for the November ballot. However, organizers have an additional 10 days to collect the required number.
In the first week of this month, The Coalition to Regulate Cannabis Like Alcohol submitted more than 220,000 signatures . In a letter sent to the campaign Tuesday, the secretary of state said that only 123 367 signatures had been verified. This was several hundred less than the 124 046 required for ballot measures.
The state has good news, however. It says activists have met a different county threshold. This rule requires that petitions for ballot initiatives must have enough signatures to equal at least 1.5 percent in the previous gubernatorial elections in a minimum number of 44 counties. The cannabis campaign reached this threshold in 49 counties.
The Secretary of State’s Office informed “Petitioners have 10 extra days after the notification is issued to submit additional valid signatures.”
Tom Haren said, in a Tuesday press release, that “it appears we fell short in the first phase. But now we have just 10 days to find 679 voters who will sign a supplement petition. This is going to easy because a majority in Ohio supports our proposal to tax and regulate adult-use marijuana.”
He said: “We are looking forward to Ohio voters having the chance to have their voices heard in November.”
The second batch of signatures submitted to the government by the campaign was the ones that were collected earlier this month.
The first round of voting triggered a four month legislative review period, during which lawmakers could have taken action on the issue. But they did not. This allowed the campaign to start collecting the second half petitions needed to get to the ballot.
The legalization initiative was originally intended to be on the ballot for last year, but procedural issues prevented this. The activists submitted enough signatures for the review to begin, but their timing was questioned.
CTRMLA sued to force ballot placement but it was unsuccessful for the 2022 elections. The state agreed to a settlement which meant that they wouldn’t have to collect the initial signatures again, and that the initiative was immediately retransmitted by the legislature to begin the 2023 session.
These are the main provisions of the legalization ballot question that could appear on the ballot in November:
- This initiative will allow adults over 21 to possess up to 2.5 ounces (or 15 grams) of marijuana. They can also possess up to 1.5 grams of marijuana concentrates.
- Each individual could grow six plants to use for their own personal needs, and a maximum of 12 plants in a household.
- The 10 percent tax on cannabis sales would go to fund social equity and job programs (36%), localities who allow adult-use marijuana businesses to operate in their areas (36%), education and drug misuse programs (25%), and administrative costs for implementing the system (3%)
- The Department of Commerce would establish a Division of Cannabis Control. The division would be able to “license and regulate adult-use cannabis operators, adult-use testing laboratories, as well as individuals who are required to have a license.”
- This measure will give current medical cannabis businesses an advantage in the recreational market. Within nine months after the law’s enactment, regulators would have to start issuing adult use licenses to applicants who are qualified and operate medical cannabis operations.
- The division will also have to issue 50 adult-use retail licenses, and 40 recreational cultivator licences. This is “with preference given to applicants who are participating in the cannabis social equality and jobs program.” It would also authorize regulators to grant additional licenses for recreational market after two years.
- Municipalities could opt not to allow new recreational cannabis businesses to open in their region, but existing medical marijuana companies would still be allowed to operate, even if adult-use operations were to be added. Employers can also enforce policies that prohibit workers from using cannabis for adult purposes.
- The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services would also be required to enter into a contract with regulators to provide “cannabis-addiction services”, which would include “education and treatment of individuals with addiction issues related either to cannabis or to other controlled substances, including opioids.”
- Some advocates worry about the lack specific language regarding automatic expungements, which would clear the records for people who have convictions from crimes that would become legal under the new legislation. The measure includes a clause requiring regulators “to study and fund” criminal reform initiatives, including expungements.
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A Spectrum News/Siena College Research Institute survey, released in late 2014, found that 60% of Ohioans supported legalizing cannabis. However the poll did not ask about the specifics of the ballot proposal. A previous poll showed that Ohio voters supported marijuana legalization on the ballot.
In the meantime, bipartisan Ohio legislators have filed a bill to legalize marijuana in the last month . This gives the legislature a second chance to lead the reform. It has not yet advanced, but now it is up to the voters to decide.
Reps. Jamie Callender and Casey Weinstein introduced the Ohio Adult Use Act. The act combined and refined previous legalization proposals, which the lawmakers pursued on a separate political basis last session.
Callender, who had sponsored a separate law to tax and regulate marijuana for 2021, had previously cast doubts about the prospects of reforming the legislation, indicating that he believed it would be up to the voters to decide the issue given the recalcitrance on the part of the legislature.
Ohioans made it clear during recent elections that they are ready for a change in policy. More than 30 localities in Ohio have decriminalized marijuana through local ballots.
In November last year, for instance, voters in five other cities passed local marijuana decriminalization initiatives. voters in Helena also enacted reform during the primary election held last month.
The conservative legislature is considering major changes to the medical cannabis program in this session, even though they may have missed the deadline to pass legislation on adult-use marijuana.
Also, Gov. Mike DeWine , a Republican, signed in January a criminal justice reform law that allows cities to facilitate mass expungements of people with drug-related convictions. This includes marijuana possession up to 200 grams.
The mayor of Cleveland announced in April, after the law became effective, that the city would be moving ahead with plans for sealing thousands of cannabis records.
New York is now accepting applications for Marijuana Farmers Markets
Photo by Philip Steffan.
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