DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Lawmakers introduce bill to legalize marijuana in Ohio

Lawmakers introduce bill to legalize marijuana in Ohio
JACKIE BORCHARDT | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER | 3:41 pm EDT July 15, 2021

For the first time, Ohio lawmakers will have a bill before them to legalize recreational marijuana cultivation and sales.

Democratic state Reps. Casey Weinstein of Hudson and Terrence Upchurch of Cleveland have drafted a bill to legalize cultivation – personal and commercial – and regulate sales, as well as allow people previously convicted of low-level marijuana crimes to have their records sealed.

"We’re seeing there are dramatic economic benefits, there are medical benefits and there’s a strong criminal justice avenue here so we can focus law enforcement on violent crime," Weinstein said in an interview.

More: Ohio could triple the number of medical marijuana dispensaries. But not until next year

The pair is seeking cosponsors on a comprehensive bill, the first proposed in Ohio to set up a regulated market for selling marijuana.

The legislation faces a steep climb in a GOP-dominated Legislature that five years ago barely legalized a highly-regulated medical marijuana program.

The 2016 medical marijuana law was passed quickly to head off a ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution. Weinstein doesn’t want to get to that point on broader legalization, and hopes some Republicans will agree.

“Ohio is at the point where we’re going to be behind if we don’t act now,” he said. “I hope this provides the spark that we need to elevate the conversation and get this legislation moving.”

Under the bill, adults age 21 and older could buy and possess up to 5 ounces of marijuana at a time and grow up to 12 mature plants for personal use, Weinstein said. Cities and villages could limit the type or number of marijuana businesses allowed within their borders.

The proposal is modeled after Michigan's marijuana market, Weinstein said. The bill would keep Ohio's medical marijuana program, approved in 2016 and launched in 2019, intact. Medical marijuana cultivators, processors and dispensaries could be licensed on the recreational side, too. The Ohio Department of Commerce would oversee the industry.

Ohioans with nonviolent criminal records for marijuana crimes could have their records sealed and could participate in the newly legal industry, Weinstein said.

A 10% excise tax, in addition to state and local sales tax, would be collected on marijuana products, with the proceeds going primarily to education, road and bridge repair and local governments. Ohio's tax rate would be in line with Michigan and would be lower than Illinois, Colorado and other states.

For two years, up to $20 million of each year's proceeds would go to research for treating medical conditions of veterans with marijuana and preventing veteran suicide. The legalization bill would have a social equity component to encourage people of color and other traditionally disadvantaged individuals to participate in the industry, Weinstein said.


Marijuana legalization has not gone far in Ohio
Six years ago, Ohioans voted on a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana, but it would have only been grown at 10 pre-selected sites owned by investors in the amendment campaign. The measure failed with 64% of voters voting against it.

Ohio lawmakers worked quickly the next year to establish a highly restrictive medical marijuana program. It took more than two years to set up the program; the first sale took place in January 2019.

A bill introduced earlier this year, House Bill 210, would have allowed personal cultivation of marijuana plants and expungement of certain marijuana offenses. The bill has yet to have a hearing. Rep. Juanita Brent, D-Cleveland, introduced a bill to fully decriminalize marijuana use and possession in last year, but it died last session without a single hearing.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, is still opposed to legalization, a spokesman confirmed Thursday.

Jackie Borchardt is the bureau chief for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

https://amp.cincinnati.com/amp/7892474002

12 plants for personal use?! Man, done right, outdoors, that’s easily 8-15 pounds. I’m a heavy smoker but I couldn’t even begin to dent that in a years time. Oregon’s rule of 4 mature plants is by far enough. But whatever, way to go Ohio!! Get it done.

I'm a daily smoker and/or a vape-er myself.....since May 7th, 1973. All day? No. Now I start hitting it at 5-6pm thru 8-9p. 4-5 hits/ and/or vapes an hr.

The titanium knee replacements, the failed back surgery(L3 and L4)where I need the rods and pins inserted and fused together, the hernia(coupled with that dreaded hydrocele , etc, etc.

O bla-dee, O bla-da......

I ran the pain pill gamut for yeeears. Addicted? Absolutely. When you become impervious like I did to 4mg dilaudid......., etc, etc. I believe 4mg is still the strongest script pain pill available???

On a side note, back surgery? Me? NEVER AGAIN!

Omg…that means I could possibly open up the weed cafe I always wanted.

Cannabis-infused Frappuccino’s and other coffee flavors with non-diary products.
A chill ambiance with Enya, enigma, and the art of noise playing softly through the speakers.
Pre rolled cones and a Turkish style lounge.
Table that can seat 6 with services like pre rolls, bongs, and blunt rolling classes.
Outside lounge with a fire pit

And… a designated parking lot to hotbox with your homies.

The possibilities…..the true American dream.

A section where you can pull up like I drive up convenient stores. Pick your flavor, show your ID, and you’re in and out.

Drone delivery service within a 10 mile range.
Delivery service within 40 miles for a 10/20 dollar fee.

I can get the Porsche taycan, all electric car that’s expensive AF and make so many freaking deliveries and leave the lowest carbon footprint imaginable.

I can literally stunt on people AND save the planet at the same time. America. Ohio. Do the right thing. Make me so high I have to hire an accountant.

Can I invest?
And make some deliveries in the Taycan?

I can't wait! I'll go hunting for my stash.

This needs to pass, as well as the Feds getting their crap together and dropping Marijuana to a schedule II or III drug instead of being a schedule I.

There is no reason at all for dispensaries to not be able to have checking and savings accounts along with being able to accept credit/debt cards, and no reason it shouldn't be covered by our insurance companies just like Vicodin, Dilaudid, Demerol,
Oxy, fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall, and so any other drugs are.

The problem with "science that is verified" is that we've spent 100 years fighting MJ as "the Devil's Lettuce" and have done very little research. With that said, certain things are proven and evident...

Humans, animals and marijuana share one thing in common: an endocannabinoid system...





The best way to think of it is that we have a series of "thermostats" in many places within our bodies. Imagine if you had a thermostat in every room in your house and they were all set at different temperatures... one room cold, one room hot, drafts everywhere. Wouldn't be very comfortable, would it? Many of the issues in our body are a result of one or more thermostats being off kilter and the effect they have on others.

For instance -- I have kidney stones. When I am suffering through the process of trying to pass one my digestive system is out of wack, I have stomach aches or nausea, pain spreads throughout the general region... a series of thermostats that are off all because of a tiny 6mm stone in my ureter. Marijuana helps with all of this, it becomes a daily ritual -- especially if I'm at all interested in a good night's sleep.

What does marijuana do?

The entourage effect of THC and all the (many) different cannabinoids in the plant (some that are only newly discovered and sparsely researched) act as a catch-all for regulating all the thermostats. They rush into the body and search for any thermostats that are out of wack and correct them. That's why MJ has been proven (effectively) to help with so many things... depression, anxiety, pain management, PTSD, seizures, mending bones, autism, ADHD, glaucoma, arthritis, etc, etc, etc...

Here's something crazy... If I'm in a lot of pain, I can smoke high potency MJ and not get high. It's almost as if the MJ knows that it has a different job to do upon entering my body. "Over here guys, we've got bigger fish to fry!" Mind blowing, to be honest.

One of the issues that makes it so hard to effectively predict what strain works for whom, and how well, is that every body is different. Until we have about a decade or so of true science under our belts, it's more a situation of "can't hurt to try". Unfortunately there is still such a stigma attached that people will willingly stand in line for opioids, knowing all the dangers. But will wave off MJ... because "weed is bad, umkay".

It cannot hurt to try.

I've abandoned the bottle as well. Been years since.....

Although I'm not a scientist and or expert I believe the science of "indica" would serve her best.

No doubt alcohol is the most destructive. Many a household and/or families have been destroyed by it. I'm not sure if marijuana would even fall in the top 8-10 of "household destroyers".

Not that I don't tighten up a Bud Light or 3 every month or so.

I started smoking in high school. By my early 30s I was a mess, weed, booze, and coke. I got clean and sober in 1989, at age 34, with the help of the Cleveland Free Clinic. I got my EMT, then later my Paramedic certifications and in 1992, I was hired by Cleveland EMS. In 1997, and now 8 years clean and sober, I transferred from CEMS to CPD, and had a 21 year career as a Cleveland Cop. I retired in 2018. In 2019, on Sept 23, I celebrated 30 years clean and sober.

I had never considered weed a problem. Alcohol and coke were the problems. But for 30+ years, I didn't smoke. I had said for many years, that on the day my retirement was official, I'd spark one up. I had fulfilled my obligation to society to be a productive, contributing member in good standing. I actually waited more than a year, till after my 30 year anniversary.

Starting in October 2019, and ever since, I have remained sober but smoking weed. High and dry my neighbor calls it. I don't get wasted, and I don't smoke every day, but often enough I settle into my evenings with a nice little buzz. I've earned it.

Marijuana should be legal. It always should have been legal. It isn't nearly has harmful as alcohol or even pain killers.

I’ve said for many years that alcohol is more damaging than weed, in almost any way you can measure.

Weed’s been legal in Canada since 2018, and is sold at government-run liquor stores. I don’t get my stuff there because I get better stuff for less money.
Funny little story : I will say, on the day weed became legal, I went down to the liquor store to check it out.

Ran into a cop I knew, and he said ‘I heard they were selling marijuana here’. We had a laugh but he also told me “no one ever started a bar brawl because they smoked a joint’.

I don’t smoke it every day, when I go to work I don’t mix pleasure with business -even though it’d be easy to get away with it - and I don’t vegetate on the couch when I do. I actually like being active when high (it’s great when playing golf, btw, especially when you focus on staying focused).

BOOM!
Was out to dinner, just got home.

Wife: "What do you want to watch when we get home?"
Me: "Hmmm, one of my homies on Dawgtalkers recommended some doc on the human body, can't remember the name though... I'll try to find it when we get back..."

I down as well... dawgtalker smoke cafe!

They should legalize freedom of thought.

Think anything you want. Verbalize it and sound crazy… expect to be called out.
Next.

YES! Almost got through the first episode but we were running all day and had to get up early to drive back to Indiana. Mind blowing! And very well done. We'll dive back in tomorrow evening, thanks for the recommendation.

I've now watched the first 2 episodes. And I agree, it is geared for a high school level education; informative and doing well to explain things without complexity. That said, I have yet to learn anything new.

freedom of thought is already legal,, not sure what your problem is..

You can think what you want. But if you spread falsehoods, whatever happens is on you....

That was just ridiculous. Creating a prosthetic is one thing, just being able to send the message from the brain and have the hand react is amazing enough. Telling it how hard to squeeze and getting feedback from the hand?? C'mon. If you watched it, you realize a guy lost a limb and has actually upgraded. Silly.

Ohio marijuana legalization effort can start collecting signatures after approval from state panel
Updated: Aug. 31, 2021, 12:13 a.m. | Published: Aug. 30, 2021, 12:31 p.m.

The Ohio Ballot Board voted on Monday that a proposal to legalize marijuana in Ohio is a single issue, a move that gives the green light to the backers of the law change to start collecting the signatures needed to send it to the state legislature. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com
117 shares

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Backers of a marijuana legalization effort now can start collecting the signatures needed to send the issue to the legislature, following a Monday vote from a panel of state officials.

The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted unanimously that the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol’s proposed law change dealt with a single issue. The ballot board met briefly and did so without debate. The only person who spoke at length Monday was Don McTigue, a veteran Democratic elections-law attorney who was representing the legalization effort, and no one spoke in opposition.

The ballot board could have split the measure into multiple pieces, which would have complicated the coalition’s efforts by requiring them to circulate multiple sets of petitions, and requiring voters to approve multiple issues, if the proposal were to make it to a statewide vote.

Tom Haren, a spokesman for the coalition, said with Monday’s vote, his group now plans to immediately start collecting the 132,887 signatures from registered voters needed to force the legislature to take up the issue. The group’s goal is to be done gathering signatures by the end of this year, or in early 2022, he said. The signatures must come from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

If the legislature doesn’t pass the law, or passes something different, the coalition then could begin collecting another 132,887 valid signatures to send it to the ballot for a statewide vote. The group is targeting the November 2022 election, although Haren said it would be just as happy if the legislature acted on its own.

“The General Assembly technically doesn’t have to wait to start addressing the issue, and we’re ready to start working with them right now in real time,” he said.

The proposal would allow Ohioans age 21 and older to purchase, possess and grow marijuana, including up to 12 plants per household with multiple people.

Existing Ohio medical marijuana dispensaries could expand their businesses to sell to adults. A 10% state tax would be charged with each marijuana purchase, generating an estimated $400 million per year in new revenue, according to backers of the proposal.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/08/o...?outputType=amp

If I could sign it as a native Ohioan I would.

Maybe, if you could find out how... I've looked all over the web and the "coalition" doesn't even have a website or FB. So, no information on how or where to sign.

That said, I don't think there is any worry of coming up with 133,000 signatures.

Ohio knows it screwed the pooch with the way it rolled out medical... and the stupid rules that still apply... AND the inflated prices. Hell, I know plenty of people that have an Ohio license and still drive to Xichigan to pay half price (with three times the selection).

Allowing people to grow at home will help regulate prices, supply and demand will sort out the rest.

The combined effect of collecting tax revenue and forgoing the tens (if not hundreds) of millions used to fight a useless war on MJ will be a huge boon to the economy.

And, for all of you that are opposed, guess what? The names and faces of those who are "indulging" won't change much... except for a few more grandmas and grandpas that finally decide to take the plunge.

Lol …it won’t fly in Ohio.

It might, mood is changing.

time will tell.

1. Can I sign the other petition that keeps it illegal.

2. Just because if it were to become legal wouldn't make it right.

3. ( I wonder if boardmember leagalizewd is alive and well. Always read his name as leagilze-lewd.)

4. Forget a 10% tax. 1 dollar = 10 cents tax.
Since I want no part of it, how about a 1000 percent tax, which sounds alarming but only 1 dollar = 10 dollars of tax. So it'd still be affordable because well people don't think straight with it. There is one of the problems.
It's not me, Let them pay the state! I want no part of it. So just keep it illegal in the first place.

What do you mean by "wouldn't make it right"? If it is legal, how could it be wrong? Are you seriously going to say all the pain that is being alleviated, in leu of opioids, is somehow wrong? smdh. People were using cannabis long before your religion or principles were a thing... maybe you are what's not right. Well, we already know that.

That's the great thing about America. Nobody is going to force you to use it. So if you want no part of it, don't smoke it. It's a lot like gay Marriage. If you don't want any part of gay marriage, don't get gay married.

Also like a Covid Vax, if you don't want it, you shouldn't have to get it.

Nobody "has to". Just like nobody who owns a business "has to let you in". Life is full of choices. The problem starts when people think they're the only ones who have a choice.