ResponsibleOhio stopped at Ohio University on Thursday to promote their marijuana legalization ballot measure and faced some opposition from local protestors.
Nearly 30 anti-monopoly activists stood outside Baker Center chanting "Buddie, Buddie, Buddie," on Thursday afternoon.
Buddie — the human-sized marijuana mascot for ResponsibleOhio, the group trying to legalize the substance in Ohio — was absent when the group stopped at Ohio University's campus on its statewide bus tour.
"I've been doing this since August, and this is the first time we've had anyone protest us," Michael McGovern, spokesman for ResponsibleOhio, said.
He said even in small conservative towns where he's visited, he's hardly had any detractors.
For the first hour of the tour stop, before the protesters appeared, only about three students stopped by to fill out voter registration forms.
Don Wirtshafter, an Athens resident, said the activists, who arrived at about 1 p.m., organized on social media Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
"The very idea of trying to grant a monopoly to these fat cats is repulsive to me," he said.
The protesters carried signs with messages such as "Weed Not Greed," and "Pot is for people not for corperations (sic)."
Wirtshafter said ResponsibleOhio was not in touch with what actual marijuana consumers wanted and criticized the Buddie mascot as evidence that the group is "clueless."
Opposition to the proposal is based on the fact that 10 investors would be allowed to own growing facilities, which some people argue would essentially create a monopoly.
From those 10 growing facilities, the marijuana would then be shipped off to five testing facilities, one of which will be in Athens, before being distributed to dispensaries.
"What people (talking about) the whole monopoly thing don't mention is that after four years that number will increase," McGovern said. "What the people who throw this argument around don't mention is it's not going to be 10 growers forever."
Sara Quoia, owner of Cool Digs, a garden supply store at 6 Euclid Dr., said her business potentially stands to gain from marijuana legalization, but that ResponsibleOhio was not the right bill to do it.
"I'm more concerned about these guys' bills stifling free enterprise," she said. "No one in their right mind wants a monopoly written into our constitution."
Quoia advocated for Legalize Ohio, a ballot proposal that could appear on the 2016 ballot.
"When there's a crowd like this its hard to actually talk to people," McGovern said. "I'm willing to talk to people, but I'm just getting heckled."
McGovern said in spite of the protesters, he still had about 25 students register to vote, more than any other stop on the tour so far.
Some of those students were drawn to the site because of the protesters.
"I heard there were protesters out here that looked like hippies protesting legalization, so I was confused about that and I wanted more information," Laura Klion, a freshman studying industrial systems and engineering, said.
The tour has been targeting college towns, encouraging students to register to vote before the Oct. 5 deadline.
McGovern said although college students make up a large group in favor of legalization, they are often not informed enough to get out and vote.
"We'll have people come up to us and say 'I want to sign your petition,' and we're like 'It's already on the ballot. Now it's up to you going out to vote,' " he said.
The group had previously planned on stopping on campus Oct. 6, but pushed the tour date forward to Sept. 22 before finally settling on Oct. 1.
"We had a schedule planned and last week we decided to throw it out, because we realized there was only a few weeks left for voter registration," McGovern said.
Alex Flamm, a junior studying engineering, said he was in support of legalization, but didn't know how to help the cause.
"I was just curious to see what I had to do," he said. "In my opinion, marijuana shouldn't be illegal. I honestly don't see why it is illegal in the first place."
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