Ohio voters are clearly against Issue 3, a law that would have allowed 21-year-olds and up to use, purchase or grow certain amounts of marijuana for recreational as well as medical uses, according to the Associated Press.
A group called ResponsibleOhio petitioned the necessary amount of signatures so that Issue 3 would show up on the November elections ballot. However, the vote has fallen through.
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JaaiR (JR)
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Ian James, the campaign director announced that this “bump in the road” was not the last, but that will not stop their efforts.
“We need to not only address compassionate care for the chronically ill, we need to also remain vigilant in protecting direct democracy,” he said. “Because when the Statehouse refuses to deal with the voters, the voters have to make them deal to make sure that their voices are heard.”
With Ohio being a tester state – they would have been the first to allow recreational usage of marijuana – there are its anti-marijuana monopoly protesters. Curt Steiner, director of Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies says that there would be a select few of already financially set individuals that would reap the benefits of profit due to the 10 Marijuana Growth, Cultivation and Extraction (MGCEs) facilities.
“Issue 3 was nothing more and nothing less than a business plan to seize control of the recreational marijuana market in Ohio,” Steiner said. “Issue 3 was designed and built primarily to garner massive and exclusive profits for a small group of self-selected wealthy investors.”
Isn’t this the goal for the legalization of marijuana? Correct me if I’m wrong – because I don’t smoke – but the purpose is to tax. All large businesses are feeding the already wealthy.
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Correct, but the reason it failed is due to issue 3 was a bill to create a monopoly. Only 10 grow houses in the whole state of Ohio. And the owners and investors were the only ones to get richer, the grow houses would make ALL the profit as any dealer knows who grows or makes the drugs get rich. So the shops selling the weed would have to buy the weed only from one of those grow houses and then sell the weed from their store, the store would barely break even. In other legalized states the stores can grow their own weed and then sell it in their retail shop, so they stand to be able to make a profit even after jumping through hoops to get their license. Here in Ohio that wasn’t going to happen, it was a poorly written bill. Everyone I knew was voting no until next year when a better bill is written and put back in front of the voters. Ohio is in no means against the legalization of weed, we are against making the rich get richer.