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Recreational marijuana officially on November election ballots in Ohio
By Sarah Donaldson, 2 days ago
WOWK 13 News
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COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Ohioans will vote this fall on whether to legalize recreational marijuana, Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Wednesday evening.

The initiated statute will join an abortion rights constitutional amendment and local elections — such as Columbus’ election for mayor and city council — on the Nov. 7 ballot.

The statute generally seeks to legalize “adult-use” sale, purchase and possession of cannabis for Ohioans who are 21 and older. Under the text of the proposed law, Ohioans could also grow a small number of plants in their homes. More information about the proposal in its entirety is available here .

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After being told it was short on signatures to get a statute on the ballot in late July, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said Aug. 3 it submitted thousands of supplemental signatures to the secretary of state’s office. Those were verified over the last two weeks, confirming the coalition had gathered enough signatures to meet the mark for the fall ballot.

Initially, the coalition submitted 222,198 signatures. At least 124,046 of those had to be verified by Ohio county’s boards of elections, which the coalition was just shy of, so under Ohio law, it had 10 days to collect additional names.

When it came time to resubmit, the coalition sent in 6,459 additional signatures — 4,405 of which were rendered valid by county boards of election.

“We are grateful to the thousands of Ohioans who helped us get to this point and are excited to bring our proposal to regulate marijuana like alcohol before Ohio voters this coming Election Day,” coalition spokesperson Tom Haren said in a statement.

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Close to 59% percent of likely Ohio voters, responding to a recent Suffolk University/USA Today poll , said they would vote in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana. Only 6.6% were undecided, with 34.8% against the issue.

If the issue passes, the state plans to levy a 10% adult-use tax on all marijuana sales in addition to the state’s sales tax. Some of the tax revenue would go toward equity and jobs programs, according to the proposed law’s text.

The coalition has received close to $2.96 million in contributions as of July, according to its latest campaign finance filing. As of that filing, however, it only had about $9,500 in cash on hand. Its biggest donor, so far, is the Marijuana Policy Project — a Washington D.C.-based national organization pushing for marijuana policy overhauls.

Before the initiative was even approved to appear on the November ballot, a coalition against recreational marijuana emerged. It includes the Ohio chapters of the Children’s Hospital Association, Association of Chiefs of Police, and Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, among several other organizations.

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The coalition, Protect Ohio Workers and Families, said Wednesday that the proposed law won’t make the state better, instead only enriching “corporate” marijuana.

“Expanding access to this addictive drug brings even more risks to Ohioans, especially for employers who prioritize a safe workplace but already struggle to find workers who can pass a drug test,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The issue made it onto the ballot as an initiated statute rather than a constitutional amendment, so the state legislature has the ability to amend the proposal if it passes into law in November. Legislators could even vote to overturn it in its entirety.

Ohio would be the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana.

Sad part is the little man won’t be opening the corner pot sop any time soon. And that additional tax is BS.

I guess my question is, can folks grow it at home in the spare bedroom or only "Big Biz" can grow it and sell it to the consumers?

I think that's a reasonable question.

That remains to be seen, I would bet no.

"The proposal would legalize the cultivation, processing, sale, purchase, possession, home growth, and use of recreational marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older. Adults would be authorized to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 15 grams of concentrates. Persons can grow up to six plants at home or 12 per household. "

However, the language in House Bill 523, which legalized cannabis for medical use in 2016, prohibited "home grown". Concerns of "safety" were cited. I expect the powers-that-be will invoke the same language and forbid growing at home, should the bill pass.


Anyway, here's some more info:

2023 Will be a Pivotal Year for Cannabis in Ohio

2023 is just getting started, and already there have been important developments in Ohio involving cannabis with the promise of much more to come. Secretary of State Frank LaRose got things started on January 3 when he submitted a proposal to the Ohio General Assembly from the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol legalizing the use of marijuana in Ohio. This fulfilled the terms of a court settlement with the Coalition, who tried to get its proposal on the 2022 General Election ballot but ended up in litigation over technicalities. The proposal would legalize the cultivation, processing, sale, purchase, possession, home growth, and use of recreational marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older. Adults would be authorized to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 15 grams of concentrates. Persons can grow up to six plants at home or 12 per household. In addition to the existing sales tax, a 10% tax would be levied on adult use sales, the revenues from which would be devoted to various social equity and addiction programs and governmental regulatory functions. Under the terms of the settlement, the legislature has four months to adopt the measure. Once the deadline for legislative passage expires on May 3, the Coalition will be free to collect petition signatures to put the measure before the voters this fall, and per the settlement terms, signatures collected last year will count toward the signature requirements for 2023.

Also introduced in January was Senate Bill 9, sponsored by Senators Steve Huffman and Kirk Schuring. If enacted in current form, the bill would make major changes to Ohio’s Medical Marijuana program. The bill creates a new state agency within the Ohio Department of Commerce called the Division of Marijuana Control to regulate the program. In his Executive Budget, currently being deliberated by the Ohio House as House Bill 33, Governor DeWine also proposes to transfer the responsibilities of the Board of Pharmacy relating to medical marijuana dispensaries, dispensary employees, patients, and caregivers to the Department of Commerce. Under SB 9, a 13-member commission would oversee the Division and the program, with commissioners being granted lifetime appointments to be made by the governor and legislative leaders. This would consolidate the oversight functions currently fulfilled by Commerce, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and the State Medical Board of Ohio. SB 9 would also add autism spectrum disorder, arthritis, migraines, chronic muscle spasms and opioid use disorder as qualifying conditions for the use of medical marijuana. The bill further includes a “catch all” that would allow any condition that a physician identifies as qualifying. Many other changes to current law are also proposed, including expanding the permissible forms of medical marijuana that may be dispensed to include pills, capsules and suppositories, oral pouches, oral strips, oral or topical sprays, salves, lotions and inhalers, eliminating the existing lottery in favor of a merit-based system for reviewing new applicants for licensure, and expanding the scope of permissible activity amongst all of the licensing levels, It is expected that the bill will be amended as it progresses through the General Assembly.

Ohio has started to roll out its expanded medical marijuana dispensary program with the winners of RFAII being announced in 2022. Upwards of 70 new dispensary licenses were awarded to a myriad of applicants, drastically expanding the retail footprint of medical marijuana throughout the state. As 2023 has begun, several provisional licensees have earned their certificates of operation, but a number of awardees have yet to open their doors, leaving many to wonder what the state regulators will do in terms of enforcing the requirement to obtain a certificate of operation with 270 days from receiving a provisional license. With February come and gone, that 270-day period has lapsed and unless awardees have received variances from that requirement, we could theoretically see the state regulators decide to rescind license awards (though that would be a significant enforcement action, but one well within the control of the state regulators to do).

Federal legislation under consideration would also impact Ohio if enacted. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE Act) would permit banks to do business with cannabis companies operating legally within states that have legalized marijuana. It has passed the US House seven times, only to die in in the Senate, most recently at the end of 2022. This is despite bi-partisan support for the legislation. With support only growing for marijuana legalization and for normalizing banking in the cannabis industry, it’s a safe bet that the SAFE Act will re-emerge in this new Congress in some form. Whether it will pass is another question.

The 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp at the federal level, will expire in 2023. The 2018 Farm Bill defined industrial hemp as any derivative of the Cannabis sativa L. plant that contains less than 0.3% delta-9 THC. It’s expected that there will be efforts to increase that threshold to 1% as a way to alleviate pressure on hemp producers from unwittingly breaching the low THC limit. Indeed, many hemp advocates are asking that the 1% threshold be applied to all hemp derived cannabinoids including Delta-8 THC. No matter what, the 2023 Farm Bill will no doubt be the subject of intense lobbying by the hemp industry and other stakeholders. The outcome will affect Ohio.


https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/2023-will-be-a-pivotal-year-for-9518255

I believe the answer is in the text of the OP

Ohio Marijuana Law Has Created A ‘Goofy Situation,’ Governor Says, With Legal Possession But No Place To Buy ItPublished 1 day ago on January 22, 2024By Ben Adlin

Ohio’s governor says the state’s current marijuana law—under which it is now legal for adults to grow, possess and consume but with no place to purchase regulated cannabis—has created a “goofy situation” and “real mess” in light of the fact that retailers aren’t expected to open for business until at least the end of this year.

“It’s legal to consume marijuana. It’s legal to grow marijuana. But you can’t buy the seeds and you can’t buy the marijuana,” Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Thursday in a media interview. “All this is doing is fostering a bigger black market, because people think they can buy it legally, and you’re seeing advertising that is being done.”

DeWine proposed allowing the state’s existing medical dispensaries to begin selling marijuana to all adults, not just registered medical patients—a change that would need to be made by state lawmakers.

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“Give us the authority to start selling marijuana in the state of Ohio, and the way that we would have to do it, to start with at least, is to do the medical dispensaries,” he said. “We could do that and probably turn that on within about 60 days after the legislature passes an initiative.”

DeWine himself campaigned against the legalization ballot measure that voters approved last year, though he acknowledged it “passed with a good margin—57 percent of the vote.” Going forward, he said, “we should be able to have what the people asked for, and I think what the people asked for is to be able to buy marijuana where it is regulated.”

DeWine also pointed to “other issues that probably have to be resolved” around cannabis legalization, including how state tax revenue will be spent.

“We just need the House and the Senate to get back together to start talking about this, and let’s get a bill that we can move forward on,” he added.


The governor said he supports a plan passed last month by Senate lawmakers that would allow sales to begin “immediately” through medical dispensaries, though even if that plan proceeds, it will likely take months before sales begin.

Cannabis advocates have pushed back against some other provisions of the Senate plan, which would also decrease the household cap for home-grown marijuana, impose new THC limits, restrict public consumption and reallocate tax revenue, among other changes to the voter-passed law.

A separate House bill is considered more palatable to reformers, as it would make less sweeping changes to what voters approved. However, it would ban sharing marijuana between adults, add a cultivator tax and similarly make several changes to the tax revenue distribution.

Who comes up with this stuff??

I wonder if we'll be allowed to share a plate of cookies after we've smoked our individual joints?

#puffpuffpassgotojail

It was passed. No additional regulation needed. The government needs to learn to just step the heck back and take their hands off.

There should be no household caps.
There should be no arbitrary THC limits.
The "no sharing" thing is asinine.
Public consumption should be the same as alcohol.
It should be taxed the same as alcohol with the funds allocated the same.

Which was all that was ever asked for, hell that was the actual name of the coalition!


Too simple, eh?