Last week Ohio passed Issue 2, a citizen initiative that will effectively legalize marijuana in the state. The initiative, which was approved with almost 57 percent of the vote, will regulate the cultivation, manufacturing, and sale of marijuana to Ohioans over the age of 21, and also allow them to grow their own marijuana at home, with a limit of six plants per person. The law established by the initiative, which will take effect 30 days after the election, also sets a 10 percent tax at the point of sale for each marijuana transaction.
Because Issue 2 was a citizen initiative, the Ohio General Assembly can act to modify and amend the law. Ohio lawmakers are talking about doing that, including addressing important questions like how the tax revenue generated by the legal sale of marijuana–which one study estimates will eventually amount to hundreds of millions of dollars–should be used and whether additional regulations should be imposed on the new marijuana industry. Issue 2 establishes the “Division of Cannabis Control” within the Ohio Department of Commerce, which is supposed to “regulate, investigate, and penalize adult use cannabis operators, adult use testing laboratories and individuals required to be licensed.” The Department has nine months to create and publish the regulations and issue the first set of licenses.
All of this is pretty amazing for someone who has lived in Ohio for decades. When I was a kid, Ohio was a pretty buttoned-up place. “Blue laws” prohibited the sale of beer and wine by groceries on Sundays, liquor could be purchased only from state-controlled stores, there was no gambling of any kind in the state, and growing and using marijuana was completely banned. Now the approach to all of those activities has changed radically.
Why has Ohio decided to change? Perspectives on issues can and do change with the times, of course, but I think a significant part of the answer is found in the fact that, with the passage of Issue 2, Ohio becomes the 24th state to make recreational marijuana legal. In short, Ohio is right in the middle of the country on this issue–neither the first mover, nor the last–which is right where any native Ohioan would expect it to be. Ohioans are pretty pragmatic people. My guess is that many voters concluded that many other states have legalized marijuana and collected the tax revenues associated with it, so why shouldn’t we?
Webner House 