Petition forces Ohio legislature to take action to legalize cannabis

Ohio’s Secretary of State announced last week that cannabis activists had collected enough signatures to force lawmakers to consider a proposal to legalize recreational cannabis. The campaign to regulate marijuana like alcohol garnered more than 136,000 verified signatures from registered voters, according to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office. That is almost 4,000 more signatures than are needed to send the legalization proposal to the state parliament.

The proposal now goes to the Ohio legislature. They have four months to pass the measure as state law or to pass an amended version. If the Senate and House of Representatives fail to do so, the campaign would have a chance to gather an additional 132,887 signatures to put the measure on the ballot for this year’s general election.

“We stand ready and committed to working with Ohio lawmakers over the next four months to legalize adult marijuana use in Ohio,” campaign spokesman Tom Haren said in a statement. “We are also fully prepared to gather more signatures and take this issue directly to voters on November 8, 2022 if lawmakers don’t act.”

The Ohio Secretary of State validates signatures

In December, the campaign submitted petitions with more than 200,000 signatures. This was significantly more than the 132,887 required to send the proposal to lawmakers. But after the Secretary of State’s office announced earlier this month that only 119,985 of the signatures had been verified as registered voters, activists submitted nearly 30,000 additional signatures to state officials.

In a letter sent Friday from LaRose’s office, the secretary of state wrote that the additional filings enabled the activists to collect enough signatures in enough counties to send the petition to lawmakers.

“The first partial petitions contained 119,825 valid signatures on behalf of the proposed statewide initiative of total signatures submitted, signatures were submitted from 51 counties, equaling or exceeding 1.5 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor in each county’s last gubernatorial election.” , Larose wrote in a letter posted online by Northeast Ohio Media Group.

“The additional partial petitions contained 16,904 valid signatures on behalf of the proposed nationwide initiative,” he continued. “I hereby certify that the partial petitions contained a total of 136,729 valid signatures submitted on behalf of the proposed nationwide initiative.”

The campaign’s proposal to regulate marijuana like alcohol would allow adults age 21 and older in Ohio to legally possess and purchase up to 2.5 grams of cannabis and up to 15 grams of cannabis concentrates. Adults are also allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants at home, with a maximum of 12 plants per household.

The measure would also establish a 10 percent tax on cannabis products. Cannabis tax revenue would be used to administer the program and for communities with marijuana dispensaries. Taxes would also fund drug abuse programs and a social justice and jobs program.

Cannabis legalization is a long shot in GOP-led legislation

However, the legalization proposal is unlikely to gain the approval of the GOP-controlled Ohio state legislature. And even if lawmakers pass the measure, it would likely be vetoed by the time it reaches the desk of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who earlier this month opposed the legalization of recreational weed in Ohio.

“No, I think that’s a mistake,” DeWine said. “I think you change the culture and you send a signal to the kids … If it’s legal, the message to every kid is that it’s okay.”

But the campaign believes lawmakers could eventually approve the measure.

“We expect a lively debate, but expect this to pass because it’s popular with Democrats, Independents and Republicans,” Haren told local media.

Last month, two Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to legalize recreational cannabis in Ohio. Separately, lawmakers are considering a bill that would expand the state’s medicinal cannabis program.