COLUMBUS, Ohio – Efforts to legalize marijuana in Ohio, one way or another, are picking up momentum and public support.
ELECTION NOTE: Early voting for the May primary started Tuesday morning (4/7). The Franklin County Board of Elections, 1700 Morse Road, weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (except for Monday, May 4 when voting runs from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.), Sat., May 2, from 8:00 a.m. to noon and Sun., May 3, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Even as the group Responsible Ohio goes about gathering petition signatures for a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would legalize pot for medicinal and recreational use, at least three other organizations are working on legalization measures of their own and recent poll shows voters are sympathetic.
The organization Ohioans to End Prohibition released the official text of its Cannabis Control Amendment for the 2016 ballot.
The group says its proposal differs from other efforts because it would create a free market.
“While other initiatives were designed as a sort of investment vehicle to benefit a small group of people, our first and foremost concern was making sure that the policy was good, that it benefited as many people as possible, creating the maximum benefit of legalization while minimizing the harms that come with it, ” the group’s president, Sri Kavuru, said.
Responsible Ohio’s ballot measure would establish an industry licensed and regulated by the state with specified areas where marijuana could be legally grown for sale in the state.
The two issues are the first in the nation to attempt to make the jump from a total ban on marijuana use in a state to allowing medicinal and personal use in one vote.
Meanwhile, a Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday found 84 percent of Ohio voters support legalization of marijuana for medical use and more than 50 percent support legalization for personal use.
Two other organizations are limiting their efforts simply backing legalized medicinal marijuana. The Ohio Rights Group is working on getting an amendment on the ballot that would allow for safe access to medical marijuana, and Ohio Patients CANN is working to add language to expand an existing bill that would the use of oil derived from cannabis plants for children who suffer from seizures.