Early voting began in Ohio this week. Republican state senators adopted a resolution encouraging residents to vote against a marijuana legalization initiative that will appear on the ballot for November. Senate President Matt Huffman warned that if the cannabis measure passed, GOP lawmakers might try to undermine some of its key components.
He said that if Ohio voters approve Issue 2 during his speech on the Senate Floor this week, then “this initiated statue will come right back to this body.”
Huffman warned that if legalization became law, “we’ll have a serious mental health crisis.” Huffman warned that if legalization becomes law, “we’ll have a mental health crisis on our hands.”
Huffman clarified later to local reporters, that he would not seek to repeal the plan in its entirety if it is approved by voters. He said he instead “would advocate for reviewing it and repealing or changing things within it.”
He said he was concerned by some of the measures provisions, such as one that would channel a portion state tax revenues from legal marijuana to financial assistance and technical help for those who apply for cannabis businesses licenses under initiative’s social equality program.
The Senate President, in his address to colleagues, took on the issue of legalization.
He warned that if Issue 2 passed, more teens in Ohio would commit suicide. “Our reaction will not be to say, ‘Let us make marijuana illegal’, because more people will have made a lot of money by then. Then it will be ‘Maybe hire drug counselors and get into schools to talk about not taking drugs’ but by then, it will be too much. This will become a part of our culture. “I’m not a science, but I can listen to scientists, look at the facts, and I know that it’s true.”
He added that “children will have it more often if it is in their home, if they can buy it, if adults are able to purchase it.”
The Ohio Senate is debating the marijuana resolution around 1:54 in the video.
Huffman has criticized the proposal before. Last month, claimed that the policy change would be “really devastating,” and argued that it would lead to an increase in cannabis consumption among people who had been deterred from using cannabis by prohibition.
There’s very little evidence to support the idea that youth marijuana use has exploded in jurisdictions where it is legalized. The American Medical Association published a study last month that examined trends following Canada’s legalization of cannabis across the country. It found that youth who had used marijuana prior to the policy change showed “significant reductions in their use and consequences”.
The study found that marijuana consumption increased slightly among young adults who said they had never used it before legalization. However, this slight increase did not lead to an increase in cannabis-related effects.
In August, federally-funded research published from the United States found that teenage use of marijuana was stable despite the legalization movement, even though adult cannabis use reached “historic heights.”
Another study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, last year, found that state-level marijuana legalization was not associated with an increase in youth use. This study found that adolescents who had spent a greater portion of their adolescence in ‘legalized’ states were not more or less likely than those who did not.
Another federally-funded study by Michigan State University, published in PLOS One in 2013, found that cannabis retail sales could be followed in some states by an increase in cannabis use among older adults. “But this is not true for minors who are prohibited from purchasing cannabis products at a retail outlet.”
Huffman’s remarks to his fellow legislators echoed many of the arguments made in the Senate Resolution opposing the ballot initiative. The GOP resolution states that legalization will lead to an increase in emergency room visits by children, an increased risk of youth developing psychosis and lower intelligence, as well as higher crime rates and more car accidents.
The resolution, like Huffman’s, criticizes efforts to promote equity in the bill. The resolution states that “the commercial marijuana industry’s proposal law” would return more than one third of tax revenues to the industry in the form a “social equity” program.
Mark Romanchuk, a former county coroner and one of the two main sponsors of the resolution, also criticized a provision of the bill which would allocate a quarter the marijuana tax revenues to substance abuse disorder programs and drug education.
Romanchuk, in a release referring to this initiative, said: “They must have been smoking dope at the time they wrote it.” If I told you that 25 percent of the budget for your family would go to addiction programs, what would you say? [‘] But the cartels campaign thinks 25 percent of revenue should be spent on addiction programs.”
A representative of the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (Issue 2), the group behind Issue 2, downplayed GOP politicians’ opposition.
In an interview with Marijuana Moment, Tom Haren, a spokesperson for Marijuana Moment said: “We will have an election in three and a quarter weeks in which the voters will make their voices known.” “If we win the support of voters, I expect that the legislature will respect the wishes of voters.”
Haren stated that the opponents of Issue 2 “continued to resort to lies and hyperbole because they know they cannot tell Ohio voters what the truth is.”
“Issue 2, which will bring benefits to all Ohioans, will end the injustice of marijuana prohibition and provide access to medical cannabis to those Ohioans who are still unable to participate in our medical program. It will also generate hundreds of millions in new tax revenues. “All while driving out the illicit market,” he said.
In a poll conducted by the campaign, published at the end of last month, nearly 3 in 5 state voters supported adult-use legalization. This is consistent with other independent surveys conducted in recent months. The survey also found that the majority of Republican voters in the state support legalization.
Last month, a number of Ohio legislators said that they did not believe the legislature would repeal a legalization law passed by voters. Rep. Ron Ferguson, a Republican, told The Dispatch that there is not a majority in either chamber of the legislature who would support repeal. “This is definitely not true. “You would not have any Democrats and there wouldn’t be enough Republicans to place them at the top.”
In August, the Ohio Ballot Board voted to approve summary language for legalization measure. The ballot initiative will regulate and legalize “the cultivation and processing of cannabis, the sale and purchase of cannabis, the possession of cannabis, the home-grow of marijuana, and the use of it by adults over 21 years old.” It also gives an overview of regulatory structure, social equity provisions and state-level protections of financial institutions who work with the industry.
The key provisions of the measure for legalization on the 7th November ballot:
- 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 cannabis 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”.
- 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 in the same area. 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 an agreement to provide “cannabis-addiction services,” including “education and treatment” for those with addiction issues to cannabis, or other controlled substances such as 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.
As the election approaches, both sides have increased their messaging and voter turnout efforts. The yes campaign sent cease-and-desist letters last week to television stations that were airing opposition ads “filled with lies,” according to organizers. In addition, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol released a pro Issue 2 election advertisement.
Attorney General Dave Yost, (R), published a report on the initiative . He said that this analysis was meant to give voters “vital transparency and clarity” in a campaign marked by “inflamed” and “inaccurate” rhetoric.
Despite the GOP resolution, other Republicans in Ohio are divided over the issue. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said, in August, that it would be “a real mistake” for us to have marijuana for recreational use. He also noted that, in 2012, he had visited Colorado and seen what he called an “unmitigated catastrophe.”
Last year, Sen. John Hickenlooper, who was Colorado’s governor in 2012 and was a Democrat, stated that he had initially been concerned that legalization might encourage more young people to use drugs, but now believes that these worries were unfounded.
“I believe we have proven and shown that there has been no increase in teenagers’ experimentation with drugs.” Hickenlooper stated that there was no change in the frequency of use or driving while high. “All of the things that we were most concerned about didn’t happen.”
Unlike top Republican state legislators, U.S. Rep Dave Joyce, R-OH, co-chairman of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus said last month that he will vote in favor of this initiative in November. He also encouraged “all Ohio citizens to make their voices heard and participate in this important issue.”
The total number of states that have legalized adult use will increase to 24 if the initiative is passed.
Ohio voters rejected the 2015 measure on 64-36, which would have changed the state constitution to legalize pot and give the control of the market a small group producers. The organizers of the current campaign claim that they have learned lessons from the failure when crafting the current initiative.
In May , bipartisan Ohio legislators submitted a separate bill for legalizing marijuana. This gave the Ohio legislature a second chance to lead the reform. It has not yet advanced, but now it is up to the voters to decide.
New Jersey residents say the right to use marijuana at home outweighs the right not to smell neighbor’s use, according a poll
The post If Ohio voters pass Marijuana Legalization, Senate President says He’ll Push for ‘Reviewing it and Repealing things’ first appeared on Marijuana moment.
