Ohio’s attorney general rejects recreational cannabis proposal

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has rejected the advocacy proposal and signatures to legalize recreational cannabis.

Attorney General Yost published a letter on Aug. 5 stating that the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol did not meet the necessary requirements for its approval. The legalization proposal, entitled “A Law to Control and Regulate Adult Cannabis Use,” aims to add a chapter to the Ohio Revised Code to legalize recreational cannabis. If this proposal became law, it would have legalized recreational cannabis for adults aged 21 and over and established rules for its sale, possession and home growing.

A press release on Yost’s government website stated that it was his job to determine whether a proposed executive summary was “a fair and truthful representation of the proposed law.” In this case, he believes that the legalization initiative fails to provide an accurate summary in several ways. “I note that your petition is not aimed at enacting a single law; rather, it seeks to add a whole chapter to the Ohio Revised Code. ”In Yost’s letter, seven points are listed that led to his decision, as summarized below:

1. The summary did not explain the Regulatory Authority of the Division of Cannabis Control (DCC). Although it “generally” lists the organization’s remit, Yost says there weren’t enough explanations.
2. The executive summary mentions social justice and employment efforts, but “omits any meaningful explanation of the purpose of the program”.
3. There is no explanation of what you mean by the “additional procedures and requirements” of the DCC.
4. It does not include wording differences in the rules regarding the differences between home cultivation and the limits of ownership.
5. There is insufficient information in the section dealing with the protection of those who “engage in behavior that is permitted under the law”. “Although these protective measures are stipulated by law, the summary only lists, but does not make any sense of what they are,” said Yost.
6. The law does not provide enough information about the obligations of the DCC in providing information to financial institutions.
7. The summary list of safeguards for employers when implementing their own recruitment policies does not elaborate on what prevents employers from discriminating against applicants. “… while the executive summary states that an employer is not required to consider an employee’s cannabis use, it does not indicate that the proposed law does not prohibit an employer from avenging or discriminating against an employee for their legal cannabis use.”

Ohio still has hope

According to Cleveland.com, this is only the first collection of signatures the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has collected this year. Yost concluded that these changes are not intended to deter advocacy, but rather that his suggestions should be considered if they decide to resubmit signatures in the future. “Overall, the executive summary does not properly indicate to a potential signatory the nature and limitations of a proposed action,” Yost wrote.

“For these reasons, I cannot certify the summary as a fair and truthful representation of the proposed chapter. However, I must point out that this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the shortcomings in the abstract submitted. Finally, I recommend that the petitioners carefully examine and study the remainder of the abstract to ensure that it accurately captures the definitions, content and purpose of the proposed chapter before submitting it to this Office again. “

Tom Haren, spokesman for the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol, briefly commented on the attorney general’s decision. “All I can really say at this point is that it has only just arrived,” said Haren. “We check. But we plan to resubmit it. ”The coalition is already planning to distribute its petition as a nationwide initiative (allowing citizens to propose a change in the law directly to the state parliament). In the same way, the state of Ohio approved medical cannabis in 2016, which was introduced in 2018.

There are other parties interested in seeing recreational cannabis come to Ohio as well. On July 15, House of Representatives Casey Weinstein and Terrence Upchurch passed laws to legalize the sale and cultivation of recreational cannabis.