Ohio Cannabis Legalization Initiative Approved for November Vote

The Ohio-based advocacy group Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMA) has approved a citizens’ initiative designed to legalize the cultivation, manufacture, testing and sale of cannabis for residents over the age of 21.

In July, proponents submitted 123,367 signatures to qualify for November’s vote, but actually needed 124,046. “It looks like we fell a bit short in this first phase, but now we have 10 days to find just 679 voters to sign a supplemental petition — that’ll be easy because a majority of Ohioans.” supports our proposal to regulate adult marijuana use,” said CRMA spokesman Tom Haren.

Proponents worked to collect the remaining 679 signatures, but instead submitted 6,545 signatures for the initiative to qualify for voting in early August.

Recently, Ohio voters rejected Issue 1, which was a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made it more difficult to pass constitutional amendments. In the case of a proposed voting measure for abortion rights, failure of point 1 would instead result in the measure being passed by a majority rather than at least 60% approval.

While the Cannabis Civic Initiative will not amend the Ohio Constitution and is therefore unaffected by Issue 1, it could be indirectly affected by increased voter turnout. “The failure of Issue 1 is really going to result in a massive turnout in November, and the people that I think would vote on the abortion issue would also be more likely to vote positively on the recreational marijuana issue,” attorney David Waxman said the Ohio Capital Journal.

Another lawyer, James Sandy, added that the hot topic of abortion rights will discourage voters from opposing the cannabis initiative. “Because we’re voting on an issue as hot as abortion, some of the groups that may be willing to raise funds against the legalization of adult use in Ohio will use those resources for the abortion initiative,” Sandy said.

Haren remained confident that cannabis legalization would succeed. “We’ve always believed that our topic is popular, regardless of the election date or who we share the ballot with,” Haren said.

A recent poll conducted by Suffolk University found that 59% of voters support legalizing the possession and sale of cannabis.

“I think the people who go to vote in November will probably support us no matter what they vote on the abortion amendment,” Haren said. “I think we will be popular with those who vote yes (to change abortion laws) and we will also be popular with those who vote no (to change abortion laws).”

On August 16, the Ohio cannabis ballot initiative was confirmed to be on the ballot.

An article published by Ohio State University researchers titled “What Tax Revenue Should Ohioans Expect If Ohio Legalizes Adult Cannabis?” found that Ohio could generate as much as $403.6 million in annual tax revenue if cannabis legalizes would. This is the second time researchers have published a report on the potential impact of legalization in Ohio, which previously estimated that after five years of legalization, the state would save between $276.2 million (last year’s estimate) and could earn $403.6 million.

“Although these projections are based on various assumptions, other state tax revenue experiences support the claim that Ohio is likely to generate hundreds of millions in tax revenues from a mature adult consumption market,” the researchers wrote. “For comparison, in fiscal 2021, Ohio casinos generated over $300 million in gross receipts tax, making it possible that cannabis sales in Ohio will result in tax returns comparable to those now levied on casinos gross receipts tax become.”

Researchers concluded that while these estimates for annual cannabis tax revenue would be impressive, they still “represent only a small percentage of Ohio’s annual budget of over $60 billion.”

This article was updated on 8/17/23.