COLUMBUS – Two top leaders of the ResponsibleOhio group that unsuccessfully pushed to legalize marijuana in Ohio in November have now decided to team up with Ohio House leaders to seek a more modest medical marijuana initiative.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
Jimmy Gould, co-founder of ResponsibleOhio, knows his group took the kind of shellacking at the ballot last fall that makes it difficult to just regroup and try again. Instead, he and Chris Stock, a fellow attorney who worked on ResponsibleOhio, joined Speaker Cliff Rosenberger (R-Clarksville) to attempt to implement a level of regulated legalization.
“We spent a lot of money, and we didn’t get what we want,” Gould said. “When you lose, you get back on your feet and take the best path that’s available to you. This is the best way we can possibly go about it.”
Gould and Stock joined Rosenberger and a host of others yesterday as House leaders announced the creation of a 15-member task force that, starting Jan. 28, will hold meetings to weigh the pros and cons of medical marijuana. It will make a recommendation to the full House by March 31 – a deadline set by the speaker.
“The goal of this task force is to have a methodical and holistic approach to the conversation, which means including members on both sides of the aisle, as well as medical experts, community advocacy groups and law enforcement officials. Having this discussion is important for our state and I think this task force gives us an ideal setting to do that,” Rosenberger said.
The task force, chaired by Rep. Kirk Schuring (R-Canton) is expected to have some diverse views on the issue of marijuana legalization. It will include representatives from the State Medical Association, unions, business groups, hospitals, law enforcement, addiction treatment, and Betty Montgomery, the former state attorney general.
The Ohio Senate also will soon start its own, separate forums on medical marijuana.
ResponsibleOhio has also withdrawn its proposal to purge old pot-related convictions in Ohio from consideration by state lawmakers.
Rosenberger said an attorney for the group wrote in a letter Monday to legislative leaders that his clients wanted the so-called Fresh Start Act dropped from consideration and don’t intend to try to get the measure before voters.
The proposal had called for reviewing sentences and expunging criminal records for people with previous marijuana convictions if their actions would no longer be considered illegal.