Two different groups are vying to get their amendments on the Ohio ballot this year.
After a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana in Ohio was quashed in the November election, some voters may have assumed it would take a while to see a marijuana-related issue show up on the ballot again.
With Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and the Ohio Ballot Board’s recent approval of language for an amendment that would allow patients to use medical marijuana with a physician’s approval, Ohio voters may have their say on marijuana use in this coming election.
Now, organizers with Ohioans for Medical Marijuana — which is an affiliate organization of the Marijuana Policy Project in D.C. — have to gather 305,591 signatures by early July for it to appear on the ballot.
If given the green light by voters this November, the amendment would cover patients’ use of marijuana for conditions such as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, severe pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, among others.
However, the number of large-scale growers in Ohio would be capped at 15 if the amendment were to pass, and those growers would be expected to pay a $500,000 fee.
Medium-scale growers would still be able to apply for licenses without a cap on the number of licenses issued. Patients with a medical marijuana card would be able to grow up to six plants.
Theresa Daniello, a co-director of Grassroots Ohio, which has put forth its own amendment to legalize the use of medicinal marijuana, said she was skeptical that the cap on large-growers outlined in the Marijuana Policy Project’s initiative would be keep costs low.
“I’m not sure that’s the right way for the state of Ohio to go,” Daniello said.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="97da7454-f524-11e5-8d1c-9bef10e3b3de"}}
Some critics of the Marijuana Policy Project amendment have argued that the language in the amendment would conflict with last November’s voter-approved Issue 2, which prohibits using the Ohio Constitution to create a monopoly.
Don Wirtshafter, a local attorney working with Grassroots Ohio on the campaign for the Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Amendment, said the Marijuana Policy Project amendment “kind of writes in monopolies into the constitution.”
“We have a citizen’s alternative to what they’re doing,” Wirtshafter said.
Wirtshafter previously served as general counsel to the Ohio Rights Group, but resigned last year, citing his disagreement with the group’s decision-making process that led to its endorsement of Issue 3, the marijuana amendment sponsored by ResponsibleOhio that appeared on last year’s ballot.
The vice president of the Ohio Rights Group, John Pardee, was named as a campaign coordinator for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana.
Mary Jane Borden, the president of the Ohio Rights Group, said the language in Grassroots Ohio’s initiative defines medical cannabis in a way that would put it too much under the umbrella of pharmaceuticals.
“I think it's very dangerous to hand it over to the pharmaceutical industry,” Borden said.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="81b61f90-82a9-11e5-be30-abcdfe566ed3"}}
With its amendment, Daniello said Grassroots Ohio seeks to protect a patient’s right to medical marijuana and a farmer’s right to grow hemp, leaving room for specific legislative and regulatory changes as the industry evolves.
Borden said the Ohio Rights Group was encouraged by the Marijuana Policy Project’s successful track record with such ballot issues.
She added that the Marijuana Policy Project’s initiative met the Ohio Rights Group's overall goals, which consist of “taking patients off the battlefield of the drug war,” which is why the group supported ResponsibleOhio last year.
“How do you ask a stage 4 cancer patient to wait?” Borden said.
@norajaara
nj342914@ohio.edu
