That right there is a good quote, and Ohio Auditor Dave Yost is as good as any statewide official at this stuff.
He and others, including Josh Mandel, sat down with the Associated Press to discuss the future plans for possible marijuana legalization in the Buckeye State. The proposal that’s gained the most traction and headlines so far comes from ResponsibleOhio. That group doesn’t have its ballot language out yet, but the gist of their plan would be this: Ohioans passing a Constitutional amendment that would a) legalize pot for anyone 21 and older, b) legalize pot for anyone with debilitating medical conditions, and c) limit growing this Ohio pot to “10 specified locations available to people who invest in the amendment effort.”
ResponsibleOhio, as Cleveland.com points out and has covered, argues that this is not creating a monopoly, the brand of which Ohio has already been through when voters opted to pass an amendment that gave the Buckeye State casinos but also limited casino ownership to two groups. The ancillary market, the group argues, would create a ton of jobs and allow businesses to pop up making edibles and bongs and such.
That’s a flimsy argument when the real cash — the crop itself — would then legally and solely be held by those handpicked folks. When you consider signing something, please be informed out there. Two or three other ballot initiatives are floating around that don’t create this sort of monopoly.
To say that Yost was in opposition to the idea is an understatement. (See: above quote.) The rest of the GOP statewide officials also objected — Mike DeWine called it “stupid” to legalize pot at all; Mandel said something about employers having a hard time finding people who can pass a drug test. That last unsupported claim notwithstanding, the real meat and potatoes of this argument — in our opinion, isn’t whether this isn’t coming ’round the bend in Ohio (it is) or whether some form of a ballot initiative should be placed before the voters (it should), just that the ResponsibleOhio version is not the answer.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2015.
Wow, that quote is utterly perfect.
The only inaccuracy in this well written piece is this quote “The proposal that’s gained the most traction and headlines so far comes from ResponsibleOhio.” This is not true. The Ohio Rights Group (www.ohiorightsgroup.org) has already collected 150,000 signatures to place the “People’s Amendment” entitled The Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment on the ballot with our newly lowered required threshold of 301,000. ResponsbileOhio has zero signatures and hasn’t even cleared the ballot board or AG DeWine’s review to start the process. In fact, nobody in Ohio has ever gotten as far as we have on any cannabis Amendment effort in Ohio’s history. Please help The Ohio Rights Group win this for the People so Ohio doesn’t get stuck with a legal cartel for a generation.
“Two or three other ballot initiatives are floating around that don’t create this sort of monopoly.”
And so… where do you cover those other ballot initiatives?
10 locations to grow a plant that is easily grown in one’s own home. Monopoly or oligopoly, at this point we’re talking about limiting the market to a very small number of designated and moneyed suppliers.
Why is Ohio trying to reinvent the wheel? There are highly successful state models already in place that can be used here.
What next are we going to monopolize corn,tomatoes,potatoes??Responsible Ohio does not say anything about industrial hemp are they planning on cornering that market also,tell me about the acreage these investors own in which to accomplish this feat or do they intend to scam property owners next and declare imminent domain.One of their leaders told me it would just require an amendment change to allow folks to grow their own in the future like they will allow that to happen,The casinos should be our last pig in the poke event in this state,go with the Ohio Rights group and their plan its a whole lot better for the people and the state