COLUMBUS – The national organization backing a proposed ballot measure that would legalize medical marijuana in Ohio submitted petition signatures to the Ohio Attorney General Thursday.
If the petition passes muster, Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, a campaign committee formed by the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, will need to collect more than 300,000 more signatures by early July to qualify for the November ballot, said the group‘s communications director, Mason Tvert.
Read the text of the amendment here.
“Most Ohioans, like most Americans, support making medical marijuana legal for patients who could benefit from it,” he said. “It’s time to stop punishing sick and dying people who are simply seeking relief.”
Tvert says a statewide survey conducted in February showed 74 percent of Ohio voters supported amending the state constitution to make medical marijuana legal for patients with “terminal or debilitating conditions.”
Attorney general Mike DeWine’s office has 10 days to examine the official summary of the initiative and confirm the petition contains at least 1,000 valid signatures before sending it to the Ohio Ballot Board, which will confirm that it complies with Ohio initiative laws.
If it does, the supporters will need to collect an additional 305,591 valid signatures of Ohio voters.
The initiative would allow patients to use medical with their doctor’s recommendation, to grow a limited amount of marijuana for medical use or buy it from a dispensary, and it establishes a Medical Marijuana Control Division to oversee cultivation, processing and testing facilities, distributors and dispensaries
Tvert says the initiative also contains provision to “maintain commonsense restrictions on the medical use of marijuana, such as prohibitions on public marijuana use and driving under the influence of marijuana.”
Meanwhile, nother group has announced it’s working to get a measure to legalize medical marijuana on the Ohio ballot.
Officials with Grassroots Ohio tell The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer the group will submit proposed ballot language to the state attorney general in the next week. The group’s one-page constitutional amendment calls for Ohio to tax and regulate medical marijuana and allows those 21 and older to use it with a doctor’s permission.