Legal Weed In November? Cleveland Weed Con Attendees Think Time is Nigh for Ohio

Recently, at the IX Center, talk of Delta 9 and CBD fluttered across tables. Disposable cherry vape cartridges were sold across from pineapple slushies and Pringles cans. Some spoke of chrome cannabinoid extraction contraptions; others bought $40 "Couch Lock" THC chocolate or hawked Sun Bites or Luster pods.

But there was one topic undeniably floating around every attendee's consciousness at last weekend's Ohio Cannabis Health & Business Summit: The possibility that legal weed could be coming to Ohio this November.

One out of two issues on the statewide ballot November 7th, Issue 2 would effectively, if passed, make Ohio the 24th recreational state in the country. All Ohioans, according to the current ballot language, would be able to possess—and digest!—two-and-a-half ounces of marijuana, 15 grams in concentrate, and be able to grow up to a dozen Cannabis sativa plants at their home.

Though the legalization ballot issue failed in 2015 (64 percent of Ohioans voted no), a spirit of hopefulness pervaded the pungent booths on Friday, where both vendors and attendees agreed that this November is their best shot yet at creating a free market.

"It seems that this year is more progressive. It seems this year is most likely to pass," Juan Collado Diaz, an organizer for the Sensible Movement Coalition, said dressed in a festively green suit, dotted with "flowers." "I think I'm more optimistic because more people will be out to vote."

By June, campaigners to make Ohio a "rec" state accumulated the requisite 125,00 signatures needed to place Issue 2 on the November ballot. By July 25, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a noted opponent to marijuana legalization, announced the campaign was short by 679 votes. They had ten days. Nine days later, 6,545 signatures were handed in.
Just like in California and Michigan, and the 12 other states, before, making weed kosher here would come with its—yes—highs and lows. Probably the most beneficial for the state, as many were quick to point out Friday, is the lucrative 10-percent tax on all sales. That tax revenue would go directly into a "social equity and jobs program," a sort of recompense for minorities who've been jailed due to weed possession almost four times more than their white counterparts.

But, as many at the IX Center were okay admitting, legal weed could spell potentially hazardous effects as recreational dispenseries pop up en masse from Cleveland to Cincinnati. From 2017 to 2021, for example, a study in Pediatrics found a staggering 1,375 percent spike in kids six and under eating edibles accidentally. In the same four year span, ten U.S. states went recreational.
"The public health impact of marijuana legalization remains controversial with unintentional intoxication risks in children, the combined use of marijuana with other drugs, driving safety concerns while using marijuana," a study analyzing the impact of Michigan's legalization concluded, "and the unknown risk of other potential health problems such as pulmonary disorders or psychosis."

Lenny Berry, the organizer of the OCHBS since 2019 and a father of two, played down the hazards to kids, suggesting that, just like guns locked up in the house or prescribed opiates, the onus lays on bud-friendly parents. After all, many of the Delta 9 or hemp-derived THCV canisters sold on Friday had tamper-evident caps. "It's not the industry per se," he said. "It's the parent neglect."
Viewing legal weed as a kind of constitutional right, Berry walked around the IX Center in the guise of advocate more than a kind of salesman, it seemed. When prompted, he showed guests to sea-foam "YES 2" signs, or networked with notable growers.

"I want to see people have an opportunity to do what's best for them the same way they would have for any other gun laws or what have you," Berry said, walking from booth to booth.

Freedom, constitutional rights, et cetera, sounds patriotic, and attendees were right to connect the Americanism of legal weed with their bang for their buck.

As the economical effects can't be denied: After one obtains their medical card, pays state fees, goes to mandatory routine doctor visits, buys the obligatory pipes or grinders, and spends—on average—$250 for an ounce of flowery medicine, they're looking at four figures drained from their bank accounts.

"Yeah, they don't make it easy in this state," Linda Phillips, 72, said. To calm her anxiety-driven muscle spasms, Phillips, who's based in Wooster, has to travel almost an hour to the nearest medical dispensary in Akron. Phillips, a "constitutional conservative" who's wheelchair bound, added, "I have to pay someone to drive me 40 minutes! On top of the $200 just to get my medical card."

From a macro economic view, the effects of legal weed are a little harder to pin down. If Issue 2 does pass in November, it could take months or years for the legal framework to be put in place. .

Whenever that happens, the free market perks are often foreseen, good and bad. Med-only dispensaries, like Rise, said they would transition to selling product to anyone over the age of 21 with a driver's license. A free market, others said, could lead to a capitalistic flood. Or as one vendor said, "like Dollar Generals": pre-established dispensaries in Michigan or New Jersey could easily cross state lines to out-compete with Ohio weed startups.

"It's just too much money to be missed upon," Andre Deal, 35, told Scene. "You know what I mean? So much money to be grabbed upon. And now is our chance to actually get and benefit from it as a state."

Deal and his 33-year-old wife Brittany have watchful eyes. If and when Issue 2 passes, the Deals will, they said, already be hunting their stake in the game. Even now, as they walked around perusing glassware and handing out business cards, they had the seedlings of a future dispensary brewing in their minds.

"I understand what the market is. I understand and see the future," Deal said, adamantly. "Hey, if it's not November, it's going to be the next November. If not that, then the next November. It's going to happen."