Ohio likely to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana

FILE – In this Aug. 15, 2019 file photo, marijuana grows at an indoor cannabis farm in Gardena, Calif. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Franklin County election officials verified more than 700 new signatures gathered by a marijuana coalition Wednesday, meaning Ohioans inched closer to a vote in the fall on whether to legalize the recreational sale and use of it.

Once officially certified by the secretary of state’s office, the initiated statute would join an abortion rights constitutional amendment and local elections — such as in Columbus, for mayor and the city council — on the Nov. 7 ballot. 

It generally seeks to legalize “adult-use” sale, purchase and possession of cannabis for Ohioans who are 21 and older. Under the proposed law text, Ohioans could also grow a small number of plants from their homes. More information about the proposal in its entirety is available here. 

After being told it was short on signatures to get a statute on the ballot in late July, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said Aug. 3 it submitted thousands of supplemental signatures to the secretary of state’s office. Those 700 signatures in Franklin County would exceed the 679 it was short of, even absent signatures gathered in other counties.

Initially, the coalition submitted 222,198 signatures. At least 124,046 of those had to be verified by Ohio county’s boards of elections, which the coalition was just shy of, so under Ohio law, it had 10 days to collect additional names.

Close to 59% percent of likely Ohio voters, responding to a recent Suffolk University/USA Today poll, said they would vote in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana. Only 6.6% were undecided, with 34.8% against the issue. 

If the issue passes, the state plans to levy a 10% adult-use tax on all marijuana sales in addition to the state’s sales tax. Some of the tax revenue would go toward equity and jobs programs, according to the proposed law text. 

The coalition has received close to $2.96 million in contributions as of July, according to its latest campaign finance filing. As of that filing, however, it only had about $9,500 in cash on hand. Its biggest donor, so far, is the Marijuana Policy Project — a Washington D.C.-based national organization pushing for marijuana policy overhauls. 

Before the initiative was even on the ballot, an initial coalition against recreational marijuana emerged earlier in the week. It includes the Ohio chapters of the Children’s Hospital Association, Association of Chiefs of Police and Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, among several other organizations.

The issue made it onto the ballot as an initiated statute rather than a constitutional amendment, so the state legislature has the ability to amend the proposal if it passes into law in November. Legislators could even vote to overturn it in its entirety.