Ohio Voters Approve Ballot Measure Legalizing Marijuana for Adult Recreational Use

Marijuana plants grow at the Green Pearl Organics marijuana dispensary in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2018. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Ohio has become the 24th state in America to vote to allow adult marijuana use for recreational purposes.

Ohio voters approved Issue 2, the “Marijuana Legalization Initiative” ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana use on Nov. 7, with around 57 percent of voters in favor of legalization at 95 percent of the state’s precincts reporting.

The measure was campaigned for by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA), which had sought to regulate marijuana–also known as cannabis–in the same way alcohol is regulated, citing a “broken system.”

“Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, spokesman for CTRMLA. “Ohioans demonstrated this by passing State Issue 2 in a landslide. Ohioans are being extremely clear on the future they want for our state: adult-use marijuana legal and regulated.”

The new measure (pdf) allows individuals aged 21 and over in the state to use, grow, or “transfer without remuneration to another adult consumer,” marijuana, via a state regulation and taxation program, although the program is “subject to specified limitations.”

Medical marijuana has been legal in Ohio since 2016 but Ohio voters rejected a ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana in 2015.

Under the new measure, Ohioans aged 21 and over can purchase, possess, and sell up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow up to six cannabis plants at their primary residence, “with a total limitation of not more than twelve cannabis plants per residence where two or more adult use consumers reside at one time.”

Individuals can purchase marijuana from adult-use dispensaries but are prohibited from using cannabis while in a vehicle, motor vehicle, streetcar, trackless trolley, bike, watercraft, or aircraft.

A customer buys marijuana in a coffee shop in the city centre of Amsterdam, Netherlands on Jan. 8, 2021. Evert Elzinga/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

Legalization Could Generate ‘Millions’

Regular state and local sales tax still apply to recreational marijuana use along with a 10 percent cannabis tax rate on adult-use sales which will be spent on social equity and jobs programs, addiction treatment and education, funding for communities that host cannabis dispensaries, and regulatory and administrative costs.

The measure also creates a Division of Cannabis Control, which would “license, regulate, investigate, and penalize adult-use cannabis operators, adult-use testing laboratories, and individuals required to be licensed.

The new initiative is set to take effect in 30 days.

CTRMLA estimates the measure could generate an estimated $150 million or more annually for social equity and jobs programs in Ohio, $150 million or more annually for the communities that have adult-use cannabis dispensaries, and $104 million or more year for research and treatment of drug abuse.

A recent study found that daily use of marijuana increases the risk of developing heart failure by about one-third, compared to people who reported never using marijuana.

Catalyst Cannabis Company cannabis samples in Santa Ana, Calif., on Feb. 18, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Concerns Over Workplace Safety, Traffic Accidents

Its use also raises the risk of a major acute heart or brain event in older individuals with any combination of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

Tuesday' vote came despite concerns among GOP lawmakers in the Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature who feared the legalized cannabis use could impact safety in the workplace and lead to more traffic accidents on roads.

During a speech on the Senate floor regarding the measure last month, state Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said he also feared a “mental health crisis” could plague the state as a result of legalizing recreational marijuana.

GOP lawmakers also raised concerns over how the new measure could potentially impact children, noting that marijuana sellers could market edibles to children as candy, NBC News reports. 

“This statute was written by the marijuana industry and should not be treated as a cash grab for their cash crop at the expense of a state trying to emerge from the opioid epidemic,” Mr. Huffman said in a statement to multiple publications Tuesday.

As the latest measure is an initiative and not a constitutional amendment, lawmakers in the state may still amend or repeal it.

“The General Assembly may consider amending the statute to clarify the questionable language regarding limits for THC and tax rates as well as other parts of the statute,” Mr. Huffman added Tuesday.

Despite growing concerns over the latest measure, adult-use sales of marijuana in Ohio could reach up to $4 billion by the fourth year of legal cannabis, according to estimates from MJBizDaily.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.