The Ohio Group begins a push to get a legalization measure on the ballot

Local news station WCMH reports that “Ohio’s Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol was given the green light to collect the remaining 124,046 signatures needed to bring the cannabis issue to a vote in November,” after state lawmakers Buckeye “missed their Wednesday deadline to hold a citizens’ initiative to legalize the drug.”

“We are building on an existing medical marijuana program that is popular and has shown it can be effective, and can provide Ohio medical patients with safe, tested products,” Coalition spokesman Tom Haren told the Station. “This is a framework that works and will provide a quick alternative to an illicit market.”

Lawmakers in the Ohio General Assembly had until Wednesday to do something about cannabis after the state and coalition agreed last year to postpone the issue until 2023.

Under the agreement, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol kept the more than 140,000 signatures it received last year, ensuring it doesn’t have to start from scratch.

As WCMH explained back in January, “Secretary of State Frank LaRose has resubmitted legislation to the General Assembly to legalize, tax and regulate adult cannabis use,” and if “the Republican majority of the State House does not pass the measure within four months, the question could.” to be put before Ohio voters in November 2023.”

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol now has until July 5 to gather the remaining signatures to qualify for November’s vote.

According to the coalition’s official website, the proposed measure would “legalize and regulate the cultivation, manufacture, testing and sale of marijuana and marijuana-related products to adults 21 and older; [and] Legalize home growing for adults 21 and over with a limit of six plants per person and 12 plants per household.”

Here’s more about what the proposed coalition law would achieve, including “a 10% cannabis tax rate on adult sales used”:

“Social Justice and Employment Programs (36%) – Potential to generate an estimated $150 million or more annually for social justice and employment programs in Ohio, making this one of the most robust social justice provisions of any cannabis law in the country

Dispensary Host Community Funding (36%) – Potential to generate $150 million or more annually for the communities that have adult cannabis dispensaries, making this one of the largest community contributions in Ohio history

Addiction Treatment and Education (25%) – Potential to generate $104 million or more annually for Ohio research and treatment of substance abuse, one of the leading killers in Ohio

Regulatory and Administrative Expenses (3%) – a small portion would go to the Division of Cannabis Control to fund the regulatory and administrative expenses of overseeing the adult cannabis industry in Ohio.”

More than 60% of Ohio voters opposed a ballot measure that would have legalized recreational cannabis in the state in 2015, but there’s reason to believe this time might be different.

A Spectrum News/Siena College Research Institute poll last year found that 60% of voters in the state support legalizing recreational marijuana. The poll showed that large majorities in both major parties support legalization, with 79% of Democrats supporting the idea and 61% of Ohio Republicans supporting it.