Columbus, OH: Voters will decide this November on a constitutional amendment that seeks to regulate the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis.
Proponents of the measure, ResponsibleOhio, gathered over 320,000 signatures from registered voters to qualify it for the November electoral ballot.
Issue 3, the Marijuana Legalization Amendment, seeks to initially establish ten state-licensed commercial producers to provide cannabis to over 1,000 retail outlets. Retailers will be able to dispense cannabis to anyone over 21 years of age.
The measure would also permit adults to cultivate personal use quantities of cannabis (up to four plants yielding no more than 8 ounces of usable product at any one time) at home. Qualified patients seeking to access cannabis for therapeutic purposes will be able to obtain the plant from retailers at a reduced, wholesale rate. Full text of the proposed amendment is online at: http://responsibleohio.com/the-amendment/.
State lawmakers opposed to the plan have placed a competing measure, Issue 2, on the November ballot that seeks to prohibit state regulators from permitting the limited production of "any Schedule I controlled substance." If voters approved both measures, Issue 2 states that the "entire proposed constitutional [marijuana] amendment shall not take effect."
According to an April 2015 Quinnipiac University poll, Ohio voters favor permitting adults "to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use" by a margin of 52 to 44 percent.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.