Ohio’s Legislature has until Wednesday to legalize recreational marijuana, or a campaign to put the issue before voters can begin collecting signatures on their initiative.
If the legislature doesn’t act on marijuana legalization by Wednesday (at this point no bill has even been filed to do so), the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol can begin collecting signatures on their marijuana legalization initiative with the goal of putting it on the November 7 ballot.
“We’re committed and confident that we will have the team and time to get on the ballot,” said Tom Haren, a spokesperson for the Coalition. The group’s proposal would legalize the possession and personal cultivation of marijuana for those 21 and older. The initiative would also establish a legal marijuana industry, with licensed retail outlets authorizes to sell marijuana and marijuana products.
Haren says that their proposal is “boring by design.”
“We’re taking the best practices from other states to avoid the pitfalls seen in some states that have come before us”, he says.
If the legislature doesn’t act, the group will have 90 days to collect 124,000 signatures from registered Ohio voters. Doing so would put the issue before voters in November.
“When you have an unregulated market, a drug dealer doesn’t care who he’s selling to,” says Haren. “We want to eliminate the illicit market and replace it with a regulated market. We think our proposal would do that. It offers a real alternative that will be competitive on price and access.”
Under the proposed initiative marijuana would be taxed at 10% at the point of sale. Revenue would be distributed to various programs including for substance abuse and addiction programs.
The full initiative text can be found here.
